Dividing a Brazilian Property in a Foreign Divorce

The decree from Florida, Ontario or Frankfurt is clear: the wife shall have the apartment in Recife; the husband shall have the house in Tampa. Everyone signed. The foreign judge signed. And yet, a year later, the Recife apartment is still registered exactly as it was on the wedding day, the notary in Recife will not touch it, and the Brazilian registry has politely explained that a foreign judgment is not a title.

This is the most common cross-border property surprise we see, and it is not a bureaucratic accident. Brazilian law reserves the division of anything situated in Brazil in a divorce to Brazilian authorities, to the exclusion of every other court in the world. The foreign decree can end the marriage; it cannot move the apartment. Something has to happen in Brazil — and what happens depends on the couple’s matrimonial regime, which itself may not be the regime of the country where the divorce was granted.

The pivot this guide turns on is the separation of three questions that a domestic divorce fuses into one: who dissolves the marriage (either country), what belongs to whom (the regime, fixed at the marriage), and who divides the Brazilian assets (Brazil, always). Get those in the right order and the partition of a Brazilian property after a foreign divorce is a well-trodden path.

This is educational content prepared by the ZS Advogados Associados team for divorced or divorcing spouses living abroad who own — alone, jointly, or through a company — real estate or other assets in Brazil. It explains why the foreign court cannot divide them, which law decides who owns what, how the partilha is actually done and registered after a foreign decree, the tax and registry steps, and the practical questions of selling, occupying and protecting the property in the meantime. It completes the trio with our guides on where to file when divorcing a Brazilian spouse from abroad and getting a foreign divorce recognised in Brazil, and it goes well beyond the asset-division section of our general international divorce in Brazil overview — start there if you want the whole picture first, and come back here for the partition itself. If the property is what you actually need help with, our divorce and Brazilian assets abroad page sets out how an engagement works, and the cross-border family law page describes the divorce side.

Why can’t the foreign court divide the Brazilian property?

Two provisions of the Código de Processo Civil (Lei nº 13.105/2015) answer this, and they are among the few rules of Brazilian jurisdiction that are exclusive rather than concurrent.

Art. 23, I gives Brazilian courts jurisdiction, to the exclusion of any other, over actions concerning real property situated in Brazil. Art. 23, III adds, specifically for family cases, that in a divorce, judicial separation or dissolution of stable union, the partition of assets situated in Brazil is a matter for Brazilian authorities alone, even if the owner is a foreign national or is domiciled outside Brazil. Art. 964 completes the mechanism: a foreign decision on a matter of exclusive Brazilian jurisdiction will not be homologated by the STJ. Without homologation, the decision has no effect in Brazil (art. 961), and without effect, the property registry has nothing to record.

This is not hostility to foreign courts; it mirrors what most countries do with their own land. It is also older than the CPC/2015 — art. 12, §1 of the LINDB and art. 89 of the previous code said the same thing — so the rule has been applied to foreign divorces for decades.

Three consequences follow for a couple divorcing abroad.

First, the foreign court can dissolve the marriage and can deal with assets in its own territory; the Brazilian asset is simply carved out of its effective reach. Second, the foreign decree still matters as evidence: it shows what the spouses agreed or what the court found about contributions, and a Brazilian notary or judge will read it. Third, STJ case law has for years distinguished a foreign judgment that decides the allocation of Brazilian property — refused — from one that merely ratifies the agreement the spouses themselves reached about it, which has been accepted in a line of decisions on the reasoning that the disposal came from the parties, not from the foreign court, and provided the agreement does not violate Brazilian internal law. That line is real but fact-sensitive: it turns on how the decree is worded, it should be checked against the current state of the case law, and in any event it does not remove the need for a Brazilian registration act — it changes what document supports it.

The foreign court can also make orders in personam — directing a spouse to sign a Brazilian deed, or equalising the Brazilian property’s value with assets abroad. Those orders bind the spouse where the court sits; they do not bind the Brazilian registry, and a spouse who refuses to sign in Brazil is dealt with in Brazil.

Legal basis: CPC/2015, art. 23, I and III (exclusive jurisdiction over Brazilian real property and over the partition of Brazilian-situs assets in divorce), art. 961 (effects of foreign decisions depend on homologation) and art. 964 (no homologation on matters of exclusive jurisdiction); LINDB (Decreto-Lei nº 4.657/1942), art. 12, §1.

Which regime governs the Brazilian property — and who decides that?

The forum does not decide who owns what; the matrimonial regime does, and the regime was fixed when the couple married.

Under art. 7, §4 of the LINDB, the regime of property — legal or contractual — is governed by the law of the country where the spouses were domiciled at the marriage or, if they had different domiciles, of the first conjugal domicile. Nationality is irrelevant; the place of the wedding is irrelevant. Two Brazilians who married while living in Boston are, from Brazil’s point of view, under Massachusetts’ matrimonial-property law unless they contracted otherwise; a German who married a Brazilian while both lived in São Paulo is under Brazilian law. A Brazilian judge partitioning a Brazilian apartment may therefore have to apply a foreign regime, and a foreign judge dealing with assets abroad may have to read the Brazilian Civil Code. Where the spouses were domiciled in different countries at the wedding, or moved soon after it, identifying the first conjugal domicile is a question of fact that has to be evidenced — leases, registrations, tax filings, employment records — and it is worth documenting early rather than reconstructing it years later in a dispute.

Where Brazilian law governs, the Civil Code offers four regimes, and a default.

Regime	Selected by	What is shared at divorce	Core articles
Comunhão parcial (partial community) — the default	Silence, or a declaration at the marriage licence	Property acquired for value during the marriage, by either spouse, in whichever name; improvements; fruits. Pre-marital, inherited and gifted property is separate	CC arts. 1.640, 1.658–1.666
Comunhão universal (universal community)	Prenuptial deed	Virtually all present and future property of both spouses, with narrow exceptions (e.g., gifts with an incommunicability clause)	CC arts. 1.667–1.671
Separação convencional (contractual separation)	Prenuptial deed	Nothing, unless acquired jointly; each spouse keeps and administers his or her own	CC arts. 1.687–1.688
Participação final nos aquestos (final participation in acquisitions)	Prenuptial deed	Each spouse keeps his or her own during the marriage; at dissolution each is entitled to half the value of what the other acquired for value during it	CC arts. 1.672–1.686
Separação obrigatória (mandatory separation)	Imposed by law in listed cases — e.g., marriage in breach of suspensive causes, or where court authorisation was needed	Formally nothing; but Súmula 377 of the STF shares assets acquired during the marriage, which the STJ conditions on proof of joint effort	CC art. 1.641; STF Súmula 377

A prenuptial agreement (pacto antenupcial) chooses among these or tailors them. Under Brazilian law it must be made by public deed before the wedding (art. 1.653), and it is enforceable against third parties — including a buyer or a creditor of the Brazilian property — only after registration at the property registry of the spouses’ domicile (art. 1.657). A foreign prenup is given effect if valid under the law governing the regime and not contrary to Brazilian public order; its registration in Brazil, where possible, is what makes it opposable to third parties there. The regime can be changed during the marriage only with court authorisation on a reasoned joint request (art. 1.639, §2). A stable union (união estável) is, absent a written contract, under partial community (art. 1.725).

A special note on age: art. 1.641, II of the Civil Code imposes the separation-of-property regime on anyone marrying after seventy. On 1 February 2024 the Supremo Tribunal Federal decided Tema 1236 of general repercussion (leading case ARE 1.309.642, Rel. Min. Luís Roberto Barroso; final on 10 April 2024) and fixed the thesis that “in marriages and stable unions involving a person over 70 years of age, the separation-of-property regime provided for in art. 1.641, II, of the Civil Code may be set aside by an express manifestation of the parties’ will, by public deed”. The Court gave the ruling prospective effect, so it does not reopen situations already definitively settled; a couple married before the decision may make the election from then on, and it operates from that point rather than backwards over the earlier years. This changes the analysis for later-life marriages with Brazilian assets, and the election has to be documented in the form the thesis requires.

Legal basis: LINDB, art. 7, §4 (law of the domicile at marriage or first conjugal domicile governs the regime); Código Civil (Lei nº 10.406/2002), arts. 1.639–1.641, 1.653, 1.657 (choice, form and registration of the regime), 1.658–1.666 (partial community), 1.667–1.671 (universal community), 1.672–1.686 (final participation), 1.687–1.688 (separation), 1.725 (stable union); STF Súmula 377.

Speak to counsel — the regime question is often the whole case. Whether the couple’s first conjugal domicile was Brazil or abroad, whether a foreign prenup is valid and registrable, and whether Brazilian mandatory rules displace a foreign regime for a Brazilian asset are questions that decide who gets what before any division is discussed. They should be answered with documents — marriage record, residence history, the agreement itself — not assumed.

What counts as marital property in a Brazilian apartment?

Assume, as is most common, that the couple is under Brazilian partial community. The Civil Code then applies a set of rules that are simple in statement and demanding in proof.

Shared: everything acquired for value during the marriage, by either spouse, “even if only in the name of one of them” (art. 1.660, I). Title is not the test. A flat bought in the husband’s name in year three of the marriage is half the wife’s. Also shared: improvements made during the marriage to a spouse’s separate property (art. 1.660, IV), and the fruits — rents — of both common and separate property received during the marriage or pending at its dissolution (art. 1.660, V).

Separate: property each spouse owned before the marriage, and property received during it by inheritance or gift, together with whatever replaces it (art. 1.659, I); property acquired during the marriage with funds that belonged exclusively to one spouse, if that sub-rogation can be proved (art. 1.659, II); and property whose acquisition had a cause prior to the marriage (art. 1.661).

The proof point is where cross-border cases are won and lost. A spouse who says the Brazilian apartment was bought with inherited money must show the chain — inheritance, account, transfer, purchase — with documents that survive translation. Where a purchase was paid in instalments straddling the wedding date, Brazilian practice looks at what was actually paid with common effort during the marriage rather than at the date on the deed, and the apportionment is argued on the payment record. A property bought after the couple had separated in fact, even though the divorce came later, is generally treated in Brazilian case law as not communicating, because the community is taken to end with the de facto separation rather than with the decree — which makes the date of separation a fact worth evidencing.

Debts follow the same logic: mortgage instalments paid during the marriage on a property that is common are common; the outstanding balance is deducted from the value to be divided.

Property held through a company — a Brazilian holding or Ltda. owning the real estate — is not divided as real estate but as quotas. The quotas acquired during the marriage are common; the partition allocates quotas or their value, and the company’s articles and the Civil Code’s rules on partners’ spouses (art. 1.027) govern the mechanics. Rural land adds a layer: Lei nº 5.709/1971 regulates the acquisition of rural property by foreigners resident in Brazil and by foreign legal entities authorised to operate here, with area limits, INCRA controls and, for larger areas, further authorisation. Its own list of exceptions (art. 1º, §2) covers legitimate succession and certain security-related transfers; it does not list a divorce partition. A foreign former spouse due to receive rural land in a partilha should therefore have the transfer checked against those rules — and against the registry’s own requirements — before the deed is drafted, because the restriction bites at registration, not at signature.

Legal basis: Código Civil, art. 1.658 (scope of partial community), art. 1.659 (excluded property), art. 1.660 (included property), art. 1.661 (prior-cause acquisitions), art. 1.027 (partner’s spouse and quotas); Lei nº 5.709/1971, art. 1º and §2 (acquisition of rural land by foreigners; exceptions); STF Tema 1236, ARE 1.309.642 (art. 1.641, II, may be set aside by public deed).

How is the partition actually done after a foreign decree?

In sequence — and the sequence matters, because a Brazilian notary or court will require that the divorce itself already be effective in Brazil before partitioning as former spouses.

Step 1 — Recognise the divorce in Brazil. A consensual foreign divorce that only dissolved the marriage is annotated directly on the Brazilian marriage record under art. 464 of the CNJ Código Nacional de Normas do Foro Extrajudicial (Provimento CNJ nº 149/2023, which replaced Provimento nº 53/2016); anything else — including a consensual decree that also disposed of custody, support or property — is homologated by the STJ under CPC arts. 960–965 and then annotated. If the foreign decree contained a clause allocating the Brazilian property, expect that clause to be excluded from homologation (art. 964), with the rest of the decree recognised in part (art. 961, §2). A Brazilian who married abroad must transcribe the marriage first. Our guide to recognition of a foreign divorce in Brazil covers this step in detail.

Step 2 — Choose the partition route. Brazilian law does not require the partition to accompany the divorce (Código Civil, art. 1.581), and CPC art. 731, sole paragraph, provides that where the spouses have not agreed, the partition is made after the divorce under the estate-partition rules of arts. 647–658. Two routes exist:

• Consensual, by notarial deed. Former spouses who agree can partition by public deed before a Brazilian notary under Lei nº 11.441/2007 and CPC art. 733, with a lawyer’s participation. Neither needs to travel: art. 36 of Resolução CNJ nº 35/2007, in the wording given by Resolução nº 571/2024, dispenses with personal attendance and allows representation by an attorney-in-fact, “provided it is by public instrument with special powers, a description of the essential clauses and a validity period of thirty days” — a power of attorney executed at a Brazilian consulate, or before a foreign notary with apostille and sworn translation. The thirty-day window is short, so the deed has to be sequenced around it. Alternatively the parties can sign electronically through the e-Notariado platform, now governed by the Código Nacional de Normas do Foro Extrajudicial (Provimento CNJ nº 149/2023), arts. 284 ff., which replaced Provimento CNJ nº 100/2020: a notarial videoconference captures consent and the notary issues the certificado digital notarizado. Whether a given notary will identify and certify a signatory located outside Brazil is that office’s call, so confirm it first. The deed is itself the registrable title.
• Contested, in court. Either former spouse files a partition action in Brazil. Venue follows the general rules for the property and the parties; the court identifies the common estate, values it, hears disputes over what is separate and what is shared, and allocates or orders sale. The judgment, once final, is registered through a formal de partilha.

Step 3 — Register. Whichever route, the partition is taken to the Registro de Imóveis holding the property’s matrícula. The Public Registries Law deals with divorce partitions as an averbação: art. 167, II, item 14 of Lei nº 6.015/1973 covers “judgments of judicial separation, of divorce and of nullity or annulment of marriage, where the respective partitions include real property or real rights subject to registration”. Where the allocation operates as an inter vivos division or transfer — a notarial deed of partition, or a judgment or act dividing property between living persons — the registry works from the registro entries in art. 167, I (item 23 covers judgments and inter vivos acts that divide real property). Which entry the registrar uses depends on how the act is drafted, and it is worth agreeing with the registry before signature. The registry will also require, among other things, the annotated marriage certificate, the deed or formal de partilha, the property’s certificates, the CPF of each former spouse — a non-resident former spouse needs one — and proof of payment or exemption of the transfer taxes.

Step 4 — Do what the allocation requires. If one former spouse keeps the property and the other is compensated, the compensation is documented in the deed; if the property is sold and the proceeds split, the sale follows, with the non-resident rules on capital gains and remittance for a former spouse abroad.

Route	When	Who signs	Output
Notarial deed of partition	Former spouses agree; divorce already recognised in Brazil	The former spouses, or attorneys-in-fact under public POA, or via e-Notariado	Deed registrable at the property registry
Judicial partition (CPC arts. 647–658)	No agreement; disputes over what is shared or its value	Counsel under POA; parties may attend by video	Judgment and formal de partilha
Homologation of a consensual foreign allocation (where STJ accepts it)	Foreign decree records the spouses’ own agreement on the Brazilian asset	Counsel in the STJ proceeding	Carta de sentença, then registration — often still with a complementary Brazilian deed

Legal basis: Código Civil, art. 1.581 (divorce without prior partition); CPC/2015, art. 731, sole paragraph and arts. 647–658 (partition after divorce), art. 733 (consensual partition by public deed), arts. 960–965 (homologation; partial homologation in art. 961, §2); Lei nº 11.441/2007; Resolução CNJ nº 35/2007, art. 36 (as amended by Resolução CNJ nº 571/2024); Código Nacional de Normas do Foro Extrajudicial (Provimento CNJ nº 149/2023), arts. 284 ff. (e-Notariado) and arts. 463–467 (annotation of a foreign divorce), which revoked Provimentos CNJ nº 100/2020 and nº 53/2016; Lei nº 6.015/1973, art. 167, II, 14 and art. 167, I, 23.

What taxes and costs attach to the partition?

A partition that gives each former spouse exactly half the value of the common estate is a division of what each already owned, not a transfer, and is generally not taxed as one. Two things change that.

Excess over the share (excesso de meação). If one former spouse receives more than half the value of the community — typically because the other keeps assets abroad, or simply by agreement — the excess is a transfer, and this is no longer only a matter of state practice. Lei Complementar nº 227/2026, which took effect on 13 January 2026 and sets national general rules for the ITCMD under the 2023 tax reform, defines excesso de meação ou de quinhão as a division of the common estate, in a partition or an adjudication, in which one spouse, partner or heir is allotted more than the ideal fraction due under civil law (art. 147, I), and expressly includes within doação the “excesses of meação or quinhão in the partition or adjudication of common property, such as those arising from inventário, divorce and dissolution of co-ownership” (art. 147, VI, “c”). A gratuitous excess is therefore ITCMD, owed to the state; where the partitioned estate spans more than one state, the tax on the excess is apportioned in proportion to the value of each asset in the total estate partitioned (art. 159, §1). Where the excess is paid for, it is an onerous inter vivos transfer of real property and falls to the municipal ITBI under art. 35 of the CTN, in the wording given by the same complementary law. Rates, valuation rules and procedure still depend on state and municipal legislation — the states must enact their own ITCMD laws and observe the annual and ninety-day anteriority rules before the new framework is demandable — so figures must be confirmed at the time and place. Equalising with assets abroad, rather than paying in Brazil, does not necessarily avoid the point: the Brazilian excess is still an excess.

Later sale by a non-resident. A former spouse living abroad who sells the property after the partition pays Brazilian capital gains tax as a non-resident, on the difference between the sale price and the cost attributed in the partition, collected at the sale through a Brazilian procurador; residents’ exemptions generally do not apply. The value at which the property is carried in the partition therefore matters years later. Our guide on capital gains for non-residents selling inherited property explains the mechanics, which are similar.

Fees. Notarial and registry fees are set by state tables; court costs apply to a judicial partition; sworn translations and apostilles are per document. None of these is fixed nationally, and none should be estimated from a webpage.

Speak to counsel — the tax question is state-specific and moving. Whether an unequal partition of a Brazilian property triggers ITCMD or ITBI, on what base, and whether a compensating payment abroad is treated as onerous depends on the law of the state and municipality concerned and on how the deed is drafted. Have the tax analysed before the allocation is fixed, not after.

Can I sell the property in the meantime — or stop my ex-spouse from doing so?

While married. Under Código Civil art. 1.647, I, neither spouse may, without the other’s consent, sell or encumber real property, except under the regime of absolute separation. A sale without spousal consent is voidable at the other spouse’s instance. A Brazilian notary will ask for the spouse’s consent — or proof of the divorce — before drafting a deed of sale, which is one reason an unregistered foreign divorce becomes a practical problem.

After the divorce, before the partition. The community has ended but the assets have not been allocated; the former spouses hold the common estate jointly, in the undivided state Brazilian law calls mancomunhão. The STJ treats that state as ending — and the assets as passing into ordinary condomínio — once each former spouse’s share can be identified unequivocally, even before the partition is completed. Either way, a former spouse cannot sell a specific property, or a “half” of it, as if it were already his or hers; what can be transferred is at most an undivided interest, which few buyers want. If one former spouse occupies the property exclusively, the STJ has recognised the other’s right to compensation — in practice half of a notional rent — and its case law takes the citação in the claim as the starting point, that being when the occupier is unequivocally on notice. Exclusivity is the hinge: the STJ has refused the compensation where the property also housed a child of the couple, on the ground that the use was not exclusive. If either fears a disposal, a Brazilian court can order protective measures.

Forcing an outcome. A former spouse who wants the property sold and the proceeds divided, and cannot obtain agreement, asks the court for the partition and, where neither party can or will keep the asset, for its sale. After the partition, if the property was allocated in undivided shares, either co-owner may seek extinction of the co-ownership under the Civil Code’s rules on condomínio (arts. 1.320–1.322), including a court-ordered sale.

Renting. Rent from a common property between divorce and partition is common income, to be accounted for at the partition; a former spouse abroad receiving rent from Brazil also enters the non-resident rental-tax regime, described in our guide on non-resident rental income in Brazil.

Legal basis: Código Civil, art. 1.647, I (spousal consent for real estate transactions), arts. 1.320–1.322 (extinction of co-ownership); CPC/2015, arts. 647–658 (partition) and the general rules on provisional measures (arts. 294–311).

Hypothetical illustration — not a real client.

Imagine a Brazilian architect and a Dutch consultant who married while both lived in Belo Horizonte, without a prenup, and moved to Rotterdam four years later. During the marriage the architect bought, in her sole name, a two-bedroom flat in Belo Horizonte with savings from her Brazilian salary, and the couple bought a house in Rotterdam jointly. They divorce in the Netherlands by consent; the Dutch decree dissolves the marriage and divides the Rotterdam house, and records that “the parties have agreed that the Belo Horizonte flat shall pass to the wife, the husband having been compensated from the Rotterdam proceeds”.

Counsel in Brazil confirms that the regime is Brazilian partial community — the first conjugal domicile was Brazil — so the flat, though in the architect’s name, was common under art. 1.660, I. The Dutch decree is annotated in Brazil through the STJ, because the divorce, while consensual, also decided assets; the STJ’s homologation recognises the dissolution and the Dutch allocation but not a division of the Brazilian flat as such. The former spouses then sign, through attorneys-in-fact under consular powers of attorney, a Brazilian deed of partition allocating the flat to the architect and recording the compensation already received abroad; the state tax authority is asked to confirm whether the allocation is an equal division of the global community or an excess to be taxed, and the deed is drafted accordingly before registration at the property registry.

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

What are the most common mistakes?

• Treating the foreign decree as a Brazilian title. It never is. Something must be signed or decided in Brazil and registered.
• Letting the foreign court “award” the Brazilian property. The clause is refused at homologation and can complicate recognition of the rest; record an agreement instead, and execute it in Brazil.
• Assuming the regime of the divorce forum. The regime follows the domicile at marriage or first conjugal domicile (LINDB art. 7, §4), which may be neither the forum nor the country of the property.
• Relying on whose name is on the title. Under partial community, acquisition for value during the marriage is shared regardless of name.
• Claiming separate property without a paper trail. Sub-rogation of inherited or pre-marital funds must be proved with documents that survive translation.
• Partitioning before the divorce is recognised in Brazil. The notary will want the annotated marriage certificate; sequence recognition first.
• Fixing an unequal allocation without a tax analysis. Excess over the share can trigger ITCMD or ITBI; the deed’s drafting determines the result.
• Letting the notarial power of attorney expire. The public POA for a notarial partition has a short validity; apostilles and translations must be sequenced inside it.
• Forgetting the CPF and the procurador. A non-resident former spouse needs a CPF to be recorded as owner or to sell, and a Brazilian representative for the sale and its taxes.
• Deferring the partition indefinitely. Mancomunhão is an unstable state — no one can sell, rents must be accounted for, and death of a former spouse pulls the asset into an estate.

Dividing Brazilian property after a foreign divorce at a glance

Question	Short answer	Where to look
Can the foreign court divide it?	Not with effect in Brazil	CPC art. 23, I and III; art. 964
Who decides what belongs to whom?	The matrimonial regime, fixed at the marriage	LINDB art. 7, §4; CC arts. 1.639–1.688
Default Brazilian regime	Partial community — shared if bought for value during the marriage	CC arts. 1.640, 1.658–1.666
Does the name on the title matter?	No, under community regimes	CC art. 1.660, I
Must partition accompany divorce?	No	CC art. 1.581; CPC art. 731, sole paragraph
How is it done if we agree?	Notarial deed, via proxies or e-Notariado	Lei 11.441/2007; CPC art. 733; Res. CNJ 35/2007
And if we don’t?	Brazilian court partition	CPC arts. 647–658
Where is it recorded?	Registro de Imóveis of the property	Lei 6.015/1973, art. 167
Taxes?	None on an equal split; ITCMD or ITBI on excess; capital gains on later sale	State and municipal law; federal income-tax rules
Can one ex-spouse sell meanwhile?	No specific asset; consent or partition needed	CC art. 1.647; case law on mancomunhão

Key terms

• Partilha — the division of the couple’s common estate; for Brazilian assets, always a Brazilian act.
• Meação — each spouse’s half of the community; excesso de meação is the taxable surplus one spouse receives.
• Regime de bens — the matrimonial property regime; comunhão parcial is the default.
• Pacto antenupcial — prenuptial agreement; public deed in Brazil, registrable at the property registry.
• Sub-rogação — replacement of a separate asset by another, keeping it separate if proved.
• Mancomunhão — joint holding of the common estate between divorce and partition.
• Matrícula — the property’s registry folio at the Registro de Imóveis.
• Formal de partilha — the court-issued instrument that registers a judicial partition.
• Outorga conjugal — spousal consent required for real-estate transactions during the marriage.

Key takeaways

• A foreign court can dissolve the marriage; only Brazil can divide assets situated in Brazil (CPC art. 23, I and III), and the STJ refuses to homologate a foreign ruling that tries (art. 964).
• What belongs to whom is fixed by the matrimonial regime, governed by the law of the spouses’ domicile at marriage or first conjugal domicile (LINDB art. 7, §4) — which may be neither the forum’s law nor Brazilian law.
• Under Brazil’s default partial community, property bought for value during the marriage is shared regardless of title; pre-marital, inherited and gifted property is separate if the origin is proved.
• The divorce and the partition are separable (CC art. 1.581); recognise the divorce in Brazil first, then partition by notarial deed if agreed or in court if not, and register at the property registry.
• Neither former spouse needs to travel: public powers of attorney with special powers, or e-Notariado, allow the deed to be signed from abroad.
• An equal partition is not a taxable transfer; an excess over the share can attract ITCMD or ITBI; a later sale by a non-resident is taxed under the non-resident capital-gains rules.
• Between divorce and partition the property is held jointly and cannot be sold piecemeal; exclusive use by one former spouse may generate a compensation claim.
• Foreign prenuptial agreements are given effect subject to validity and public order; registration in Brazil is what makes them opposable to third parties there.

Related guides on this site

• Divorcing a Brazilian spouse while living abroad: where to file and why it matters
• Getting a foreign divorce recognised in Brazil: STJ homologation vs cartório
• International divorce in Brazil: jurisdiction and assets
• Common-law marriage (união estável) rights in Brazil
• Buying property in Brazil as a foreigner
• Capital gains for non-residents selling inherited Brazilian property
• Rental income tax for non-resident owners in Brazil
• Getting a CPF from abroad, without coming to Brazil

How ZS Advogados can help

The partition of a Brazilian property after a foreign divorce sits at the intersection of three practice areas: family law fixes the regime and the shares, international law carries the foreign decree into Brazil, and real-estate and tax law turn the allocation into a registered title with the right fiscal treatment. Most difficulties come from doing those steps in the wrong order, or from a foreign document that tried to do what only a Brazilian act can.

Our team represents former spouses living abroad through the whole sequence — analysis of the applicable regime and of foreign prenuptial agreements, recognition of the foreign decree, negotiation and drafting of the Brazilian deed of partition or conduct of the judicial partition, coordination with foreign counsel so that the two decrees fit, the tax analysis of the allocation, registration at the property registry, and the later sale or management of the asset, including the non-resident tax steps. We work in English and Portuguese, under power of attorney where travel is impractical. See our cross-border family law page for how an engagement is structured.

• Family law — matrimonial regimes, partition and dissolution of stable union
• International law — homologation, foreign documents, remote representation
• Real estate — deeds, registration, sale and non-resident ownership

Book a consultation to have the regime, the route and the tax treatment of your Brazilian property mapped before anything is signed abroad.

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: zac@zsassociados.com — +55 (18) 3908-1653 — Presidente Prudente, SP.

Sources and legal basis

• Lei nº 13.105/2015 — Código de Processo Civil (arts. 23, 647–658, 731, 733, 960–965) (Planalto)
• Lei nº 10.406/2002 — Código Civil (arts. 1.320–1.322, 1.581, 1.639–1.688, 1.725) (Planalto)
• Decreto-Lei nº 4.657/1942 — LINDB (arts. 7, §4 and 12, §1) (Planalto)
• Lei nº 11.441/2007 — partilha, separação e divórcio consensuais por escritura pública (Planalto)
• Resolução CNJ nº 35/2007 — atos notariais da Lei 11.441/2007 (CNJ)
• Resolução CNJ nº 571/2024 — alterações à Resolução 35/2007 (CNJ)
• Código Nacional de Normas do Foro Extrajudicial — Provimento CNJ nº 149/2023 (arts. 284 ss., e-Notariado; arts. 463–467, averbação de divórcio estrangeiro) (CNJ)
• Provimento CNJ nº 53/2016 e Provimento CNJ nº 100/2020 — revogados pelo Provimento CNJ nº 149/2023 (CNJ)
• Resolução CNJ nº 571/2024 — altera a Resolução CNJ nº 35/2007 (CNJ)
• Lei Complementar nº 227/2026 — normas gerais do ITCMD; excesso de meação (art. 147) (Planalto)
• STF — Tema 1236 da repercussão geral, ARE 1.309.642 (regime de bens acima de 70 anos) (STF)
• Lei nº 6.015/1973 — Lei de Registros Públicos (art. 167) (Planalto)
• Lei nº 5.709/1971 — aquisição de imóvel rural por estrangeiro (Planalto)
• STF — Súmula 377 (STF)
• Emenda Constitucional nº 132/2023 — reforma tributária; ITCMD (Planalto)
• Lei Complementar nº 227/2026 — normas gerais do ITCMD (Câmara dos Deputados)
• Decreto nº 8.660/2016 — Convenção da Apostila da Haia (Planalto)

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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 courts, decrees and matrimonial-property systems are factual context only and are not advice on the law of any other country. Transfer-tax treatment of partitions varies by state and municipality and is in transition under EC 132/2023 and LC 227/2026; notarial and registry practice varies by office. 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.