Brazil Senate legislative reforms

In July 2026 Brazil’s Senate approved a comprehensive overhaul of the criminal code (Law 15.397), raising penalties for theft and robbery, extending preventive‑detention review periods, and requiring prosecutor input before detention decisions. The law was signed on 30 April after a presidential veto on one provision, with Congress set to review the vetoed item.

A month later, in August 2026, the Senate shifted focus to inheritance law, extending the deadline for Bill PL 4/2025, which would allow spouses or partners to be excluded from compulsory heir status in testate successions. Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco pushed the deadline to 22 December, citing the bill’s breadth and the election calendar. Legal scholar Jamille Saraty Graim noted that such a change would only affect the portion of the estate subject to the mandatory legitime, leaving the spouse’s share of jointly owned assets intact.

Parallel efforts in the Chamber of Deputies seek to broaden disinheritance provisions. These include the “PL Suzane von Richtofen” and Bill 562/2026, which proposes the ‘Ficha Limpa Sucessória’ (Clean Succession Record). These measures aim to strip inheritance rights from individuals convicted of crimes against relatives, potentially extending these consequences to collateral relatives up to the fourth degree and those who coerce a testator. While social media reports suggested these reforms might leave widows without inheritance, legal analysis indicates that surviving spouses would remain legitimate heirs, as the reform primarily targets the status of necessary heirs within specific asset regimes.

Both actions illustrate the Senate’s active role in reshaping Brazil’s legal framework across distinct areas of criminal and civil law.