Alvará Judicial: Releasing Bank Balances and Small Estates in Brazil

Your father kept a savings account at Banco do Brasil for the small pension he still received from twenty years of work in Brazil before he emigrated. He died in New Jersey last spring. The Brazilian account has R$38,000 in it, there is an FGTS balance no one ever withdrew, and the INSS owes him one last month of benefit. That is the entire Brazilian estate: no apartment, no car, no company. Everyone who has looked at it tells you the same thing — “you need to open an inventário” — and quotes a process measured in months and fees measured in percentages.

For an estate like this, that advice is often wrong. Brazilian law has, since 1980, a short procedure designed precisely for the case where what the deceased left in Brazil is money in specific pockets — wages owed, FGTS and PIS-PASEP balances, tax refunds, unpaid benefits, and modest bank balances — and nothing else. It is the alvará judicial: a court authorisation, obtained in a voluntary-jurisdiction proceeding, that instructs the bank or the public body to pay the dependants or heirs directly.

The pivot this guide turns on is scope: the alvará is not a cheaper inventário; it is a different instrument for a narrower set of assets. Where the estate fits inside its limits, it is faster and cheaper than any probate route. Where it does not — because there is a property, or a larger balance, or a dispute — it cannot be stretched, and the family must use an arrolamento or an inventário. Knowing which side of that line the estate falls on is the whole decision.

This is educational content prepared by the ZS Advogados Associados team for heirs living outside Brazil — children and spouses of Brazilians who died leaving money but little else in the country — and for families who want to understand why a lawyer says “alvará” for one relative and “inventário” for another. It complements our guides on inheriting Brazilian property as a non-resident heir, the inventário deadline and ITCMD late penalties state by state, and the ITCMD and the 2027 reform.

What is an alvará judicial and where does it come from?

The word alvará simply means a written authorisation issued by an authority. In succession law the term has a specific home: Lei 6.858, of 24 November 1980, regulated by Decreto 85.845/1981, which created a direct-payment route for certain sums left by a deceased person. Article 666 of the CPC/2015 confirms it in one sentence: payment of the amounts covered by Lei 6.858/1980 does not depend on an inventário or an arrolamento.

The statute’s structure is short enough to describe fully:

• Article 1 covers amounts owed by employers to the deceased employee, and the balances of the deceased’s individual FGTS and PIS-PASEP accounts, not received in life. They are paid, in equal shares, to the dependants registered with social security (or under the specific rules for civil servants and the military) and, only if there are none, to the successors under civil law, identified in a judicial alvará — independently of an inventário or arrolamento.
• Article 2 extends the same route to refunds of income tax and other taxes paid by the deceased as an individual and — in the statute’s own words, “não existindo outros bens sujeitos a inventário” — to bank balances, savings-account balances, and investment-fund holdings up to 500 ORTN (Obrigações Reajustáveis do Tesouro Nacional), the inflation-indexed federal unit the 1980 text used.

A parallel rule sits in social-security law: Lei 8.213/1991, art. 112, provides that a benefit amount not received in life by the insured person is paid to the dependants entitled to a survivor’s pension or, failing them, to the civil-law successors, independently of an inventário or arrolamento — the article’s own words are “independentemente de inventário ou arrolamento”.

Procedurally, the alvará petition is a voluntary-jurisdiction proceeding under CPC arts. 719–725 — art. 725, VII lists the “expedição de alvará judicial” among the matters processed that way. There is no defendant; the petitioners ask the judge to authorise a payment, the Ministério Público is heard where the law or the court requires it, and the judge decides.

Legal basis: Lei nº 6.858/1980, arts. 1º e 2º, regulated by Decreto nº 85.845/1981; art. 666 do CPC/2015 (payment independent of inventário or arrolamento); art. 112 da Lei nº 8.213/1991 (unpaid social-security benefits); arts. 719–725 do CPC/2015 (voluntary jurisdiction; art. 725, VII).

Which assets can be released by alvará — and which cannot?

The line is drawn by the statute, then blurred by the courts. A working map:

Asset left by the deceased	Alvará available?	Notes
Unpaid wages, severance, 13th salary owed by an employer	Yes (art. 1)	No value ceiling; dependants first
FGTS account balance	Yes (art. 1)	The 500-ORTN ceiling sits in art. 2 and does not reach art. 1 sums; Caixa often pays registered dependants directly without an alvará
PIS-PASEP balance	Yes (art. 1)	Same as FGTS
Unpaid INSS benefit (last month, arrears)	Yes (Lei 8.213/1991, art. 112)	Paid to pension-entitled dependants; heirs only if none
Income-tax refund	Yes (art. 2)	Requires the deceased’s final tax return to have been filed
Bank, savings, investment-fund balance	Yes, conditionally (art. 2)	Only if no other assets subject to inventory and within the 500-ORTN ceiling as converted by the court
Court deposits, precatórios, small claims awards	Often	Practice varies; many courts treat them like bank balances
Life insurance and private pension (VGBL/PGBL)	Usually no alvará needed	Paid to named beneficiaries outside the estate (Lei 15.040/2024, art. 116); if no beneficiary, falls into the estate
Vehicle	Sometimes	Some courts grant a stand-alone alvará for a low-value vehicle that is the sole asset; others require arrolamento
Real property (apartment, house, land)	No	Always requires inventário or arrolamento and a registered partition
Company shares / quotas	No	Inventário or arrolamento

Three observations on the map. First, the “no other assets” condition in art. 2 is decisive: a R$20,000 balance alongside a R$400,000 apartment cannot be released by alvará; the whole estate goes through an inventário or arrolamento, and the bank balance is simply listed among the assets. Second, the art. 1 items are not subject to the ceiling: the 500-unit limit appears only in art. 2, attached to bank, savings, and fund balances, so an FGTS balance above it can still go by alvará on the face of the statute. Third, beneficiary-designated products — life insurance, VGBL, PGBL — are not inheritance at all in Brazilian law and are paid by the insurer or fund to the named beneficiary on presentation of the death certificate, with no court order.

Legal basis: art. 2º da Lei nº 6.858/1980 (bank balances only when no other assets are subject to inventory; 500-ORTN ceiling); art. 116 da Lei nº 15.040/2024 — the death benefit “não é considerado herança para nenhum efeito”, and its parágrafo único extends the same treatment to the death cover in private-pension plans; it replaced art. 794 do Código Civil, revoked by that Law; art. 619, I, do CPC/2015 (sale of estate assets by the inventariante requires court authorisation).

Speak to counsel — the map above is the statute; the practice is local. Whether a court will release a vehicle, a court deposit, or a balance slightly above its conversion of the 500-ORTN ceiling by alvará depends on the court of the deceased’s last domicile. Have counsel check the local practice before filing.

What is the 500-ORTN limit worth today?

Nobody knows precisely, and that is not a joke. The ORTN, and the OTN that replaced it, were federal inflation-indexed reference units abolished at the end of the 1980s. Brazilian courts convert the 500-unit ceiling into current currency through a chain of successor indices, and the results vary — different courts reach different numbers, and some decline to apply the ceiling rigidly where the balance is the only asset and the heirs agree. We deliberately publish no single figure here: there is no official current conversion, and any number printed on a page like this would be wrong in some courts.

What this means in practice:

• A balance clearly below any plausible conversion — a few thousand reais — is safe alvará territory.
• A balance in the tens of thousands may or may not fit, depending on the court; counsel will usually know the local figure or the local tolerance.
• A balance in the hundreds of thousands is above every conversion. If it is the only asset, the right route is an arrolamento sumário (all heirs capable and in agreement, any value) — still simple, still fast, but a true partition — or an extrajudicial inventário at a notary.

The uncertainty is a reason to have counsel check the court’s practice, not a reason to file an inventário for a small account “to be safe”. The cost difference between the two routes is large, and courts routinely grant alvarás for sole-asset balances on the basis that the purpose of Lei 6.858/1980 — to spare small estates a full proceeding — is served.

Speak to counsel — confirm the ceiling with the local court. The 500-ORTN figure has no official current value; the conversion, and how strictly it is applied, are questions for the court of the last domicile.

Who receives the money — dependants or heirs?

This is the alvará’s most distinctive rule, and it surprises families who assume the Civil Code order of succession applies.

Lei 6.858/1980 pays the art. 1 sums (and, by extension, the art. 2 sums) first to the dependants registered with social security — the people listed as the deceased’s dependants at the INSS, in equal shares — and only failing them to the civil-law successors. The same order governs unpaid INSS benefits under Lei 8.213/1991, art. 112.

Consequences that matter across borders:

• A registered dependant who is not an heir can rank first. A stable-union partner registered as a dependant at the INSS collects the FGTS ahead of adult children who are not dependants — the reverse of the ordinary succession order, where descendants rank first.
• Adult, financially independent children are usually not registered dependants. In that case, the money passes to them as civil-law successors — but only after it is established that there are no registered dependants, which the petition must document with a certificate from the INSS on the deceased’s registered dependants. The exact name and form of that certificate change from time to time; counsel requests whichever the INSS currently issues.
• Where there are registered dependants, the bank or the Caixa may pay them directly, without any court order, on presentation of the INSS certificate and the death certificate (Decreto 85.845/1981). The alvará is needed above all when there are no registered dependants and the civil-law heirs must be identified by a judge.
• The shares are equal among dependants, not the Civil Code fractions. Among civil-law successors, courts generally apply the Civil Code order and shares.

For an heir abroad, the first document to obtain is therefore not the bank statement but the INSS certificate showing whether anyone was registered as a dependant. It determines whether an alvará is needed at all and, if so, who the petitioners are.

Legal basis: order of payment in art. 1º da Lei nº 6.858/1980 (dependants registered with social security; failing them, civil-law successors); art. 112 da Lei nº 8.213/1991; direct payment to registered dependants under Decreto nº 85.845/1981.

How does the alvará proceeding work, step by step?

For a stand-alone alvará under Lei 6.858/1980 — the sole-asset case — the sequence is:

Step	What happens	Notes for heirs abroad
1. Document the death and the family	Death certificate; the INSS certificate of registered dependants; birth/marriage certificates establishing the successors	Foreign certificates: apostille + sworn translation; foreign death certificates are transcribed at a Brazilian consulate or registry
2. Document the money	Bank letter or statement showing the balance at death; FGTS/PIS extract; employer’s statement; INSS letter on unpaid benefit; the final income-tax return for refunds	Counsel obtains these under a power of attorney; banks answer written requests from the estate’s counsel
3. Establish that there are no other assets	Declaration by the petitioners; commonly supported by negative certificates (property registry, DETRAN)	The “no other assets” condition is what makes art. 2 available
4. Address the ITCMD	Proof of payment or of exemption, per the state of the last domicile	São Paulo: deposits up to 1,000 UFESPs exempt; other states vary
5. File the petition	Voluntary-jurisdiction petition by all entitled persons (or by one with the others’ consent), at the court of the deceased’s last domicile; the juizado especial is not the forum	The power of attorney must expressly cover the alvará petition and receipt of funds
6. Ministério Público and decision	The MP is heard where the court requires (minors, incapable persons, or by local practice); the judge issues the alvará	Weeks to a few months, uncontested
7. Execution	The alvará is presented to the bank / Caixa / INSS / employer, which pays into the account indicated — often the counsel’s client account or a court deposit	Proceeds are then remitted abroad via the FX system, with the tax paperwork in order

Where there is any other asset, the alvará stops being a stand-alone route and becomes an incidental alvará inside the inventário or arrolamento: the inventariante asks the judge to authorise a specific act — withdrawing a balance to pay the ITCMD or funeral costs, selling a depreciating car, accepting a settlement — while the estate continues (CPC art. 619, I). The incidental alvará is also the tool for releasing money to pay the estate’s own bills, which is how families cover the inheritance tax when all the cash is frozen.

Legal basis: arts. 719–725 do CPC/2015 (voluntary jurisdiction; alvará in art. 725, VII); competence of the court of the deceased’s last domicile under art. 48 do CPC/2015; incidental authorisations under art. 619 do CPC/2015.

Do you still pay ITCMD on money released by alvará?

Usually — the alvará is a procedural shortcut, not a tax exemption. The transfer of the deceased’s money to dependants or heirs is a causa mortis transmission, and whether ITCMD is due depends on the state of the deceased’s last domicile. LC 227/2026, art. 159, I, now states the rule expressly for movable assets, credits, and other incorporeal rights: if the de cujus was domiciled in Brazil, the tax belongs to the state of the deceased’s domicile; if the de cujus was domiciled abroad, it belongs to the state where the successor is domiciled; and under art. 159, III, where transferor and recipient are both domiciled abroad, it belongs to the state where the assets are located in Brazil. Real property follows its own location (art. 158).

State exemptions frequently cover exactly the alvará-sized case. São Paulo, in Lei 10.705/2000, art. 6º, I, exempts among other causa mortis transfers: alínea “d”, bank deposits and financial investments “cujo valor total não ultrapassar 1.000 (mil) UFESPs”; and alínea “e”, amounts owed by an employer to the employee, amounts owed by social-security institutions public or private, maintenance-type sums awarded by a court, and the balances of the deceased’s FGTS and PIS-PASEP accounts not received in life. The UFESP for 2026 is R$ 38.42 (Comunicado DICAR-88/25), so the deposit ceiling is R$ 38,420 for the year. One trap is worth naming: the old rule under which only the excess over the threshold was taxed was repealed in 2001, so a bank balance one real above the ceiling is taxed in full, not just on the excess. Other states have their own thresholds and lists. Where an exemption applies, the state tax authority issues a declaration of exemption that the court and the bank will want to see; where it does not, the tax is paid on the released amount before or at the time of the alvará, and the state’s ordinary late-payment rules apply. Whether a state would also assert its late-inventário surcharge against an estate that never required an inventário is a state-specific question to put to the tax authority, not one to assume.

One tax point is easy to miss: the released money may include income the deceased never declared — an FGTS balance is tax-exempt, but investment-fund gains have their own withholding, and the deceased’s final income-tax return (declaração final de espólio) is required whenever there is an estate to close, and is the document that unlocks any income-tax refund under art. 2.

Legal basis: ITCMD is art. 155, I, of the Constitution and each state’s statute; the São Paulo exemptions are art. 6º, I, da Lei paulista nº 10.705/2000; final estate return rules are set by Receita Federal instructions on the declaração final de espólio.

Speak to counsel — confirm the exemption for the state and the amount. Whether the released sum is exempt, partly exempt, or fully taxable depends on the state, the type of asset, and the current index value. Have counsel obtain the state’s exemption declaration before filing; courts ask for it.

When is an alvará the wrong tool?

A short list, because families lose months trying to force estates through the wrong door:

• There is real property. No alvará. An inventário or arrolamento is required, and the partition must be registered before any sale.
• There are company shares or quotas. Same answer.
• The bank balance is far above the ceiling and is the only asset. Use the arrolamento sumário (CPC arts. 659–663): all heirs capable and in agreement, any value, simplified procedure, no judicial ITCMD assessment — CPC art. 662 provides that questions of assessment, payment, and clearance of the transmission tax are not examined in the arrolamento, and its §2 sends the assessment to the tax authority administratively. Or the extrajudicial inventário at a notary.
• Heirs disagree. Voluntary jurisdiction is for consensus; a contested claim to the money belongs in an inventário, where the judge can decide who is an heir and in what share.
• There is a will. A will must be processed (registered and confirmed) before its dispositions take effect; an alvará petition that ignores a known will is asking the court to distribute money contrary to it.
• Minors or incapable heirs. Not a bar — the Ministério Público participates — but the petition must be structured accordingly.
• The money is a debt owed to the deceased by a private party (a loan, a sale price). That is a credit to be collected by the estate, not a Lei 6.858 sum; it goes into the inventário.

The counter-list is equally short: a sole bank balance of modest size, an FGTS or PIS-PASEP account, unpaid wages, an INSS arrear, or a tax refund — with no property, no shares, no dispute — is the alvará’s natural territory, and using an inventário for it wastes the family’s money.

Legal basis: arrolamento sumário and comum are arts. 659–667 do CPC/2015 (comum limited to estates up to 1,000 salários mínimos under art. 664); the full inventário is arts. 610–658; the extrajudicial route is Lei nº 11.441/2007 with Resolução CNJ nº 35/2007, as amended by Resolução CNJ nº 571/2024.

What does an heir abroad need for an alvará?

The list is shorter than for an inventário but every item has lead time:

• CPF for each petitioner. Non-residents can obtain it through a consulate or online; it is needed to be named in the proceeding and, in most states, for the ITCMD clearance.
• Power of attorney (procuração) to Brazilian counsel, with express powers to petition for the alvará, receive and give discharge for the funds, and — if desired — arrange the remittance abroad. Signed at a Brazilian consulate, or locally with an apostille and a sworn translation.
• Kinship documents — birth or marriage certificates linking each petitioner to the deceased — apostilled and sworn-translated if foreign.
• The death certificate. If the death occurred abroad, the foreign certificate is apostilled, translated, and transcribed at a Brazilian consulate or a Brazilian civil registry; Brazilian banks and courts will not act on an untranscribed foreign certificate.
• The INSS certificate of registered dependants (or of their absence).
• A Brazilian account, or agreement that funds be received by counsel’s client account or a court deposit, for the bank to pay into.

With these in hand, the heir does not travel. Our guide on inheriting property in Brazil as a non-resident heir covers the CPF and document mechanics in more depth; the same set serves an alvará with fewer items.

Speak to counsel — the procuração must name the act. A generic power of attorney for “the inventário” may not authorise receipt of funds under an alvará or their remittance abroad; a second consular round to fix it is the classic three-month delay.

How long does it take and what does it cost?

Honest ranges (illustrative, as of August 2026; FX ~R$5.4/US$1):

Timeline. An uncontested alvará with organised documents commonly runs four to twelve weeks from filing to order in many courts, plus the weeks of document preparation abroad in front. Courts with heavy dockets take longer; the Ministério Público’s participation adds a step. An arrolamento sumário for a larger sole balance often runs three to eight months. A judicial inventário for the same money runs longer than either.

Costs. Court filing fees are scaled to the amount claimed and are modest for alvará-sized sums; there are no notary or registry fees, because nothing is deeded or registered; sworn translations and apostilles abroad are charged per document; ITCMD is due unless exempt; and legal fees for a stand-alone alvará are commonly fixed rather than percentage-based, reflecting the shorter procedure. These are market-education ranges, not quotes.

Hypothetical illustration — not a real client.

Imagine two sisters in Lisbon whose Brazilian mother dies in São Paulo leaving a savings account with R$24,000, an untouched FGTS balance from a job in the 1990s, and one month of unpaid INSS pension. There is no property — the apartment was sold years ago — no car, and no will. Neither sister was registered as a dependant; the mother lived alone.

From Lisbon they obtain CPFs, sign a power of attorney at the consulate naming the family’s Brazilian lawyer with express powers to petition for an alvará and receive funds, and courier apostilled, translated birth certificates. Counsel obtains the INSS certificate confirming no registered dependants, the bank’s balance letter, negative property and vehicle certificates, and São Paulo’s ITCMD exemption declaration — the deposit is well under 1,000 UFESPs, and the FGTS and INSS sums are exempt by category. The petition is filed at the court of the mother’s last domicile; the Ministério Público raises no objection; the alvará issues within two months and is presented to the bank, the Caixa, and the INSS. The sisters never travel, and the proceeds are remitted to Portugal through the regular FX channel.

Every distinguishing detail here is invented. Real situations turn on their own facts, dates, and documents, and require individual analysis. Nothing in this example predicts any outcome.

What are the most common mistakes?

• Opening an inventário for a sole small balance. Months and fees for a case Lei 6.858/1980 was written to spare.
• Filing an alvará when there is a property. The “no other assets” condition fails; the petition is rejected or converted, after delay.
• Skipping the INSS certificate. Registered dependants rank ahead of heirs; the court will ask.
• Assuming FGTS is subject to the 500-ORTN ceiling. On the face of the statute it is not — the ceiling sits in art. 2.
• Assuming no ITCMD is due. The alvará is procedural; the tax follows state law — obtain the exemption declaration or pay.
• A power of attorney without express alvará and receipt powers. Counsel cannot collect the money.
• Ignoring a known will. A will must be processed before money is distributed against it.
• Forgetting the final income-tax return. It closes the deceased’s tax life and unlocks refunds.

The alvará at a glance

Question	Answer	Where
What it is	Court authorisation releasing specific sums without inventário	Lei 6.858/1980; CPC art. 666
Covered sums	Unpaid wages; FGTS; PIS-PASEP; tax refunds; bank/savings/fund balances when no other assets (≤ 500 ORTN)	Lei 6.858/1980, arts. 1–2
Also covered	Unpaid INSS benefits	Lei 8.213/1991, art. 112
Not covered	Real property, company shares, contested claims, debts owed to the deceased	CPC arts. 610–667
Who receives	Registered social-security dependants in equal shares; failing them, civil-law heirs	Lei 6.858/1980, art. 1
Procedure	Voluntary jurisdiction at the court of the last domicile; MP heard where required	CPC arts. 719–725; art. 48
ITCMD	Due unless a state exemption applies (SP: deposits ≤ 1,000 UFESPs; employer/social-security sums exempt)	State statutes; Lei SP 10.705/2000, art. 6, I
Heir abroad	POA with express alvará powers; CPF; apostilled, translated documents; no travel	Hague Apostille; IN RFB on CPF
Alternatives	Arrolamento sumário (consensual, any value); arrolamento comum (≤ 1,000 minimum salaries); inventário; extrajudicial inventário	CPC arts. 659–667; Lei 11.441/2007

Key terms

• Alvará judicial — a court authorisation for a specific act; here, the release of the deceased’s money.
• Jurisdição voluntária — non-contentious court procedure (CPC arts. 719–725).
• Dependentes habilitados — dependants registered with the INSS, who rank first under Lei 6.858/1980.
• Sucessores previstos na lei civil — the heirs in the Civil Code order, who receive only if there are no registered dependants.
• ORTN / OTN — the abolished federal indices in which the 500-unit ceiling is expressed; there is no official current conversion.
• Arrolamento sumário / comum — the simplified inventário forms.
• Inventariante — the estate administrator, who requests incidental alvarás inside an inventário.
• Declaração final de espólio — the deceased’s final income-tax return.
• UFESP — São Paulo’s fiscal index, in which the state’s ITCMD exemptions are expressed.

Key takeaways

• The alvará is a different instrument, not a cheaper inventário: it releases specific sums — wages, FGTS, PIS-PASEP, tax refunds, unpaid benefits, and modest bank balances — without a partition (Lei 6.858/1980; CPC art. 666).
• Bank balances qualify only when there are no other assets subject to inventory and the amount fits the court’s conversion of the 500-ORTN ceiling; FGTS, PIS-PASEP, and wages have no ceiling.
• Registered social-security dependants rank ahead of heirs, in equal shares — obtain the INSS certificate first.
• ITCMD still follows state law; São Paulo exempts deposits up to 1,000 UFESPs and employer/social-security sums; other states vary — get the exemption declaration.
• Real property, company shares, disputes, and unprocessed wills take the estate out of alvará territory and into an arrolamento or inventário; a large sole balance fits the arrolamento sumário.
• An heir abroad never needs to travel: a power of attorney with express alvará and receipt powers, a CPF, and apostilled, translated documents suffice.
• Uncontested alvarás commonly issue in weeks to a few months, with no notary or registry costs.
• Incidental alvarás inside an inventário are how estates pay the ITCMD and sell depreciating assets before the partition (CPC art. 619, I).

Related guides on this site

• Inheriting property in Brazil as a non-resident heir
• Inventário deadline and ITCMD late penalties, state by state
• Cessão de direitos hereditários: selling your share of a Brazilian inheritance
• Brazil’s ITCMD inheritance tax and the 2027 reform
• How estates are divided among heirs in Brazil
• International inheritance in Brazil
• Getting a CPF from abroad, without coming to Brazil

How ZS Advogados can help

The alvará decision is made in the first conversation: what exactly did the deceased leave in Brazil, in whose name, and is there anything — a property, a share, a will, a dispute — that pushes the estate out of Lei 6.858/1980 and into a partition? Getting that answer right saves months; getting it wrong means a rejected petition and a restart.

Our team handles small-estate matters for heirs outside Brazil end to end through a power of attorney: obtaining the INSS certificate and the bank, FGTS, and INSS statements; securing the state’s ITCMD exemption declaration or computing the tax; filing the alvará at the court of the last domicile; and receiving and remitting the released funds. Where the estate turns out to be larger, we convert the work into an arrolamento or an inventário without losing the documents already gathered. Our probate for heirs abroad page describes how the remote engagement works; if the estate includes taxable assets, the ITCMD calculator gives a first estimate by state.

• Family law — alvará petitions, arrolamentos, and the inventário itself
• International law — consular powers of attorney, apostilles, foreign death certificates, remittance of released funds
• Tax law — ITCMD exemptions and payment, the final estate tax return

Book a consultation to have the estate mapped and the right route — alvará, arrolamento, or inventário — identified before any petition is filed.

Technical review by the ZS Advogados Associados team, including co-founding partner Karina Peres Silvério (OAB/SP 331.050) and founding partner Zachariah Zagol (OAB/SP 351.356). Contact: contato@zsassociados.com — +55 (18) 3908-1653 — Presidente Prudente, SP.

Sources and legal basis

• Lei nº 6.858/1980 — payment of sums left by a deceased person to dependants or successors (Planalto)
• Decreto nº 85.845/1981 — regulation of Lei 6.858/1980 (Planalto)
• Lei nº 13.105/2015 — Código de Processo Civil (arts. 48, 610–667, 619, 666, 719–725) (Planalto)
• Lei nº 8.213/1991 — social-security benefits; art. 112 (Planalto)
• Lei nº 10.406/2002 — Código Civil (succession rules; art. 1.784) (Planalto)
• Lei nº 15.040/2024 — Marco Legal dos Seguros; art. 116 (the death benefit is not inheritance) (Planalto)
• Lei nº 11.441/2007 — extrajudicial inventário (Planalto)
• Resolução CNJ nº 35/2007 — notarial inventário rules (CNJ)
• Lei paulista nº 10.705/2000 — ITCMD-SP; art. 6º, I, alíneas “d” e “e” (exemptions) (ALESP)
• SEFAZ-SP — valores da UFESP (R$ 38,42 para 2026, Comunicado DICAR-88/25)
• Lei Complementar nº 227/2026 — ITCMD general rules; arts. 158–159 (which state taxes the estate) (Planalto)
• Receita Federal — Meu CPF (registration, including for non-residents) (gov.br)
• Caixa Econômica Federal — FGTS: saque por falecimento do trabalhador (Caixa)

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This guide is for informational and educational purposes only, in line with Provimento No. 205/2021 of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB). It is not legal or tax advice, an opinion, or an offer of services, does not refer to any specific case, and does not guarantee any result. It describes Brazilian law and practice; references to foreign documents and probate are factual context only. The conversion of the 500-ORTN ceiling, the treatment of vehicles and court deposits, and ITCMD exemptions vary by court and by state and must be confirmed for the specific case. Rules and provisions are cited as of August 2026; changes after that date are not reflected. Each situation requires individual analysis by a licensed attorney. Last updated August 2026.