Is a family homestead always unseizable?

In Brazil, most of the time, yes. However, there are situations where the case can eliminate the unseizable characteristic, as shown by a recent case decided by the Regional Labor Court-1 (from Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil).

In that case, there is a labor debt, with maintenance nature. However, the company, which is in bankruptcy, and the partner, declared that they don’t have property to pay for the debt. However, the partner lives in a real property that is evaluated more than 100 times of the value of the debt.

Thus, the first-degree Judge, and the Court, decided that the unseizable characteristic, of the house the partner lives in, must be removed, so the value is used for the payment of the debts, and then the partner can use the remaining value to acquire a new property, resulting in the hypothesis of not losing the protection of the dignity upon the family homestead.

This situation demonstrates the importance of the reality of the facts to be adjusted to the legal fictions which are pretended to be used.

Make a coherent and appropriate planning, with professionals that can give you all the necessary support!