Family law that works across borders.

Family law is where foreign clients meet the cartório system head-on. Marrying in Brazil means a habilitação process at the civil registry with apostilled, sworn-translated documents proving you're free to marry; formalizing a união estável (stable union — Brazil's robust common-law partnership) means a declaration that carries real property consequences; and both interact with immigration, inheritance, and tax in ways worth understanding before signing.

The decision most couples skip is the property regime. Brazilian marriage defaults to partial community of property (comunhão parcial) — everything acquired during the marriage belongs to both, regardless of whose name is on it. If you want something different — separate property, or protections for pre-marital assets and businesses — that's a pacto antenupcial, signed at a notary before the wedding. After the wedding, changing regimes requires a court process.

On the dissolution side, we handle consensual divorces (which in Brazil can be done at a notary, fast and without court, when there are no minor children and terms are agreed), litigated divorces, recognition of foreign divorces in Brazil, and the custody and support arrangements that follow families across borders — including Hague Convention questions when children move between countries.