Brazil: Salary account protections and child support enforcement

In Brazil, legal protections ensure that salary accounts are reserved for the subsistence of workers and their families. Under Central Bank regulations, banks are prohibited from automatically deducting funds to settle debts such as credit card balances, overdrafts, or personal loans without express authorization from the account holder. Exceptions to this rule include payroll-deductible loans (empréstimo consignado) and court orders, such as those for child support payments.

In the state of Maranhão, the judiciary has actively enforced child support obligations. Data from the Court of Justice of Maranhão (TJMA) for 2025 and 2026 shows that 4,713 civil arrest warrants were issued due to unpaid child support, with 2,681 of those warrants being executed.

To streamline the collection of these payments, new legislation known as ‘Pix Pensão’ (Law No. 15.479/2026) is set to take effect in July 2027. This law will allow the judiciary to mandate the automatic transfer of child support funds directly from the payer's account to the beneficiary or their legal representative.