Dissolving union estable online – please help!

Member since 14 October 2024

somwhereonthewestcoastMember14 October 2024 11:31:06

Hello!

I was in união estável with my Brazilian ex-partner, on which basis I had permanent residency. Since I have left Brazil and want to dissolve this document, however I am no longer in Brazil, nor do I intend to return there.

It has been quite hard to solve this with my ex-partner as he is not really collaborating (but is willing to dissolve). Through a FB group I found a lawyer and they told me it's possible to do online and would cost like 10,000 reales (+ cartorio costs) and gave me the link: [link under review]

Is that really so? Is that really that expensive? Is there anything else I should know? I'm kinda desperate, because it's so hard to understand how to navigate this and any information would help! Thanks!

abthree Brazil expert

Member since 28 December 2017

abthreeBrazil expert14 October 2024 12:40:16

6094

10/14/24 @somewhereonthewestcoast. R$10,000 sounds very high to me for an uncontested termination of a união estável, unless your ex is putting up a lot more resistance than you suggest. (If you really need a lawyer in Brazil, a better place to start than social media is the "Diretório de Advogados" at jusbrasil.com.br.)

Your ex can't enter into another legal união estável or a marriage until his união estável with you is terminated, so the termination is very much in his interests, too. He should be willing to go to the cartório where you swore out the document, find out what proof you two need to provide to terminate it, and facilitate that with documents that you send him. If he's not willing to do that, you can contact the cartório and get the information yourself.

You could also email a question to the Brazilian Consulate responsible for the area where you live to find out whether there's a way to cancel it at the Consulate, since you won't be returning to Brazil.

Since you never plan to return to Brazil anyway, you might want to check with a lawyer in the US on whether the união estável can come back to bite you in the future anyway: I'd have a real question about its enforceability outside Brazil, so your ex may suffer more than you from just leaving it alone.

You can probably get this done by the cartório alone, but if you feel that you really do need legal representation, contact a couple of attorneys in the same city as the cartório through Jusbrasil and see whether they can help you. I doubt that they'll charge you R$10K. Best of luck.