Digitalization of Brazilian notary services

Brazil is expanding the use of digital notary services through the e-Notariado platform to streamline various legal processes.

In family law, the digitalization of notary offices and updated legislation have enabled extrajudicial divorces. For couples reaching absolute consensus without minor or incapacitated children, the process can be completed in as little as two business days via online document submission and video conferencing. This is significantly faster than traditional judicial procedures, which can take up to two years, according to data from the National Council of Justice (CNJ). Additionally, new digital tools, such as an online calculator, have been introduced to help couples select property regimes by guiding them through financial and asset-based questions.

Beyond civil matters, notary offices are utilizing the e-Not Provas tool to provide legal validity to electoral promises made online. This system allows for the registration of social media posts and digital declarations, documenting the exact time and electronic address of the content to prevent candidates from altering or deleting campaign commitments.

To facilitate these online transactions, the e-Notariado certificate serves as a free digital identity issued by accredited notary offices. This certificate allows users to sign deeds, powers of attorney, wills, and authenticate documents remotely. While the certificate provides the same legal validity as in-person transactions, technical challenges can arise during use. Users may encounter errors in web browsers like Google Chrome if certificates are not correctly imported into the operating system’s certificate repository or if drivers for physical tokens are outdated.