Choose Your Legal Guardian in Advance

A confidential document, accessible only to the person who drafted it and a court, may help reduce a recurring source of family tensions in Brazil. Disputes over who will manage the affairs of a family member who can no longer do so are not uncommon.

As parents age, their children often face difficult decisions about their care. But a legal development may now help limit these disputes: the National Justice Council’s (CNJ) standardization of procedures related to the autocuratela.

Individuals can now appoint a trusted person to serve as legal guardian if they lose capacity in the future, whether due to dementia or a sudden medical event. The document may identify one or more surrogates and include specific instructions on healthcare, financial matters, and asset management.

To set this up, an individual must be mentally sound and have legal capacity. The autocuratela is executed via a deed (escritura) before a Brazilian notary (tabelião) or through the e-notariado platform. Although the document is filed with a notary office, its contents remain confidential. Not even the chosen guardian is notified of the designation.

An autocuratela doesn’t eliminate the need for a judicial guardianship process. What it does, however, is force the judge to consider the guardian chosen by the individual instead of simply selecting a spouse, parent, or child based on legal priority.

Like an advance healthcare directive, the advance appointment of a legal guardian protects your future decision-making, should you ever need it. But you must ensure the document is properly prepared and executed.