Project equalizes inheritance rights between brothers and half-siblings – 10/15/2023 – Market

At the end of September, the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Committee) of the Chamber of Deputies approved project 7,722/2017, which amends the Civil Code and establishes the equal division of inheritance between bilateral and unilateral siblings in the family succession process.

The proposal was approved by the committee on a final basis, but there is a request for it to be analyzed by the House plenary before going to the Senate.

The article in question deals with the division between collateral. In other words, cases in which there are no living descendants, ascendants or spouse. In this case, the inheritance is divided between the brothers.

The text was authored by deputies Laura Carneiro (PSD-RJ) and Carmen Zanotto (Cidadania-SC). They argue that the proposal follows the constitutional precept of equality between children, regardless of the “constancy or not of the marriage”.

According to the current wording of the Civil Code, when his bilateral brothers (same father and mother) compete for the deceased’s inheritance with his unilateral brothers (only one parent in common), the half-siblings receive half of the value inherited by the bilaterals.

The project also revokes the provision that discriminated between nephews who are children of unilateral brothers.

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Current text of the Civil Code
Art. 1,841. If bilateral brothers compete for the inheritance of the deceased with unilateral brothers, each of these will inherit half of what each of those inherits.

Writing given by the project
Art. 1,841. Bilateral and unilateral brothers competing for the inheritance of the deceased, each one, regardless of whether it is bilateral or unilateral, will inherit in equal shares.

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“This unequal treatment [do Código Civil] it is blatantly unconstitutional and cannot prevail in our legal system”, say the deputies in justifying the project presented more than five years ago. “Legislative measures are necessary and urgent to correct this distortion in the text of the law.”

The Constitution says that children, whether or not there is a marriage, or by adoption, will have the same rights and qualifications, with any discriminatory designations relating to filiation prohibited.

The Civil Code also provides that all children will have the same rights, but it has this article that discriminates in the issue of inheritance disputes between the deceased’s siblings, says Dandara Piani, specialist in family and estate planning at Briganti Advogados.

“This project comes to align with what is already provided for in the Federal Constitution and what is in a specific article of the Civil Code”, he states. “It is up to the law to adapt to non-discriminatory regulations.”

There are cases of dispute in court involving, for example, the inheritance of a person who did not have ancestors, descendants or living spouse/partner. In this situation, the inheritance was divided among his brothers, but unequally.