Brazil civil registry surname adjustments

In late June 2026, São Paulo’s Court of Justice upheld a decision that a woman must pay R$30,000 in damages for filing a false paternity claim, citing a Superior Tribunal de Justiça precedent that allows removal of a paternal surname when the child has suffered affective abandonment. A month later, the same court addressed a petition by a young biomedical professional to delete her mother’s name from her birth certificate after alleging childhood sexual abuse. The judge permitted removal of the maternal surname but refused to erase the maternal affiliation, emphasizing that maternity is a biological fact recorded in the civil register.

The case, identified as Heloísa Rodrigues, attracted national attention after the plaintiff’s viral video describing her trauma. Rodrigues appealed the decision, arguing that retaining the maternal name perpetuates her harm. The appeal remains pending, underscoring the judiciary’s cautious approach: it permits limited surname adjustments for affective or abusive contexts while maintaining core parental links in Brazil’s civil registration system.

On 26 July 2026, the São Paulo court again ruled in Rodrigues’s favor, ordering the removal of the maternal surnames “Alves Duque” from her birth certificate while keeping the legal filiation intact, reaffirming the principle that a mother’s identity must remain recorded. In the same ruling, the court addressed a separate neglect case in Rio Grande do Sul, keeping two young siblings in the custody of their maternal grandparents pending further assessment, illustrating a broader judicial trend of protecting victims of parental abuse and neglect.