Separation is carried out by notaries; process is only valid for couples without underage or incapable children
Brazil surpassed the mark of 1 million extrajudicial divorces, that is, carried out through notary services, without the need for a court case. According to data from the CNB (Collegio Notarial do Brasil), from 2007 – when the Law 11,441 made this form of formalizing the separation possible – by June 2023, the country had 1,025,205 processes of this nature.
The law determines that couples without minor or incapable children can be divorced at the notary. In addition, it is necessary that there is no dispute between the 2. In the public deed made by the notary, the couple must stipulate questions related to the division of assets, payment or waiver of alimony and change of surname if one of the spouses has adopted the other’s .
extrajudicial divorce
For family law specialist Acácio Cezar Barreto, from NCSS Advogados, the law that authorizes extrajudicial divorce promotes the formalization of the end of marriage without bureaucratic obstacles. “Contemporary family law proposes, more than ever, based on respect for the will of the couple, granting them the necessary and legitimate private autonomy to decide about their life together”he said.
According to the CNB of São Paulo, even couples who have ongoing legal proceedings can give up and opt for divorce at the notary, if the requirements of the law are met. From 2007 to 2009, the number of extrajudicial cases was close to 25,000.
In 2010, Constitutional Amendment 66 came into force, which removed the deadlines for divorce. Previously, couples needed to prove they had been separated for at least 1 year and a half before starting the officialization process.
According to CNB-SP, the change in the law was an innovation that made extrajudicial divorces increase considerably. From 2009 to 2010, there was an increase from 25,728 to 45,518, which represents an increase of 77%. “It was a wise decision by the legislator, who saw in the registry offices and notaries a quick way to reduce bureaucracy in the daily lives of citizens”said Andrey Guimarães Duarte, vice-president of CNB-SP.
Celerity
In 2020, because of the lockdown imposed by the pandemic, the CNJ (National Council of Justice) released the registry offices to do the acts online. “The ease, added to the fact that many couples are confined, made the number of divorces increase considerably”declared Andrew.
According to the CNB-SP, if the couple has all the documentation in order, including the sharing of property, the extrajudicial divorce can be done on the same day. In Justice, according to the Judiciary Power Statistics panel, compiled by the CNJ, the average time until the judgment of consensual divorce proceedings in the country is 718 days.
In addition to being faster for spouses, extrajudicial divorce allows for productivity gains for the courts. “In addition to helping to alleviate public finances, the measure highlights the importance of notary offices to relieve the Judiciary. Thus, local courts can prioritize other processes”said the vice-president of CNB-SP.
Divorces in Brazil
According to the latest Civil Registry Statistics report, released in February by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), the country had, in 2021, 386,813 divorces granted in the first judicial instance or carried out by extrajudicial deeds, which represents an increase of 16.8% compared to 2020 (331,185).
Judicial divorces granted in the first instance totaled 299,846 (77.5% of the total in the country). Of these, almost half (48.5%) were spouses with underage children, that is, disqualified for the extrajudicial modality.
The divorce rate for every 1,000 people aged 20 and over was 2.49%. On average, men were divorced at 43.6 years, while women were divorced at 40.6 years. The average time between the date of marriage and the date of the divorce decree or decree was 13.6 years.
With information from Brazil Agency.
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