Estate Planning for Families with Assets in Brazil and Another Country

If you own property or accounts in Brazil and in another country, you do not have one estate — you have two, and they answer to different laws. A will written for one country can quietly cancel the will you signed in the other. Brazilian law reserves half of your Brazilian assets for your close family, no matter what your foreign will says. And a US or foreign trust that works perfectly at home may do nothing — or worse — for what you own in Brazil.

There is no template for this. The right plan depends on which countries you touch, which assets sit where, who your heirs are, and where you are tax-resident. What follows explains the traps and the tools honestly. Designing the actual plan around your family is the part we do.

Reviewed by Luciano Oliveira — Brazil–US attorney, LL.M., licensed in Brazil, Texas, and California · Last reviewed: July 2026.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Succession, forced-heirship and tax rules vary by country and change; a plan spanning two countries must be designed by counsel in each. Figures and rules should be confirmed for your facts.

Why one estate plan can’t cover both countries

Succession law generally follows the law of the country where the deceased was last domiciled — the starting rule in Brazil’s private-international-law statute (LINDB, art. 10). But there is a decisive exception for Brazilian assets, and above all for real estate: only a Brazilian court may adjudicate rights over real property situated in Brazil (LINDB, art. 12 §1), and Brazilian-situated assets are governed by Brazilian succession law in favor of a Brazilian spouse or children whenever that is more favorable to them (LINDB, art. 10 §1; Constitution, art. 5, XXXI).

The practical translation is blunt: your Brazilian assets pass through a Brazilian inventário, under Brazilian law, no matter where you live or die. A single “worldwide” will drafted abroad, or a foreign trust, cannot quietly govern them. You need a Brazilian leg built to Brazilian law and coordinated with your home-country plan — not one document stretched across two systems.

Related: the Brazilian probate process · Brazil’s forced heirship.

One will or two? — and the clause that can cancel your other will

For most cross-border families the answer is two coordinated “situs” wills — a Brazilian will covering Brazilian assets, and a home-country will covering the rest — not a single worldwide will.

Here is the trap almost nobody is warned about. Most professionally drafted wills open with a line like “I revoke all prior wills and codicils.” If the second will you sign carries that clause, it can legally revoke the first — including your Brazilian will. Individuals and couples routinely destroy their own two-country coordination this way, and no one notices until it is too late to fix.

The fix is in the drafting: each will is expressly limited to the assets in its own country, and either omits any general revocation clause or expressly preserves the other country’s will (for example, “this will disposes only of my property situated in Brazil and does not revoke any will governing property outside Brazil”). Brazilian law supports exactly this — under the Código Civil (art. 1.970), a later will that contains no express revocation clause does not wipe out the earlier one; the earlier will survives in everything not contradicted by the later one.

Whether you need two wills or three, and precisely how each is scoped, depends on where your assets sit and which countries are in play — and counsel in both countries must review both drafts before either is signed. That coordination is the whole point, and it is exactly what goes wrong when the wills are written in isolation. Related: making a will in Brazil.

Will my foreign will be honored in Brazil — and my Brazilian will abroad?

A foreign will does not self-execute in Brazil. Before a Brazilian inventário can partition your assets, the foreign will must be apostilled (or consularized), sworn-translated into Portuguese, registered and judicially confirmed — real delay and cost, at the worst possible time for your family. A Brazilian will, written in Portuguese before a Brazilian notary, skips all of that for your Brazilian assets.

In the other direction, a Brazilian will covering assets abroad is generally admitted through ancillary probate in the relevant country — most jurisdictions honor a will valid where it was executed — but again with translation and a second local process.

The lesson is the same from both sides: coordinated situs wills cut the friction in both directions, instead of forcing your heirs to drag one country’s document through the other country’s courts. Related: when Brazilian courts recognize a foreign will.

Forced heirship — why you can’t leave your Brazilian assets however you want

Someone used to US or common-law freedom of disposition is often shocked here. Brazil reserves a fixed share of the estate for close family:

• The necessary heirs are descendants, ascendants and the surviving spouse (Código Civil, art. 1.845).
• Half of the estate — the legítima — belongs to them by operation of law (art. 1.846).
• With necessary heirs, you may freely dispose of only the other half (art. 1.789), and the legítima cannot be overridden by your will (art. 1.857 §1).
• For Brazilian-situated assets, Brazilian law prevails in favor of a Brazilian spouse or children when it is more favorable (LINDB, art. 10 §1).

So you may be able to leave your home-country assets exactly as you wish, but only 50% of your Brazilian assets are yours to direct. You cannot will — or trust — around the legítima for Brazilian property.

What you can do is plan within it, and there are real tools: directing the disposable half deliberately; choosing the right marriage property regime; making lifetime gifts with a reserved usufruct (doação com reserva de usufruto) out of the disposable half so you keep control and income for life; using life insurance, whose proceeds are generally treated as outside the estate and the legítima; and adding restrictive clauses. Which of these fit, and in what sequence, is entirely specific to your family and your assets — which is exactly why this is designed, not templated. Related: Brazil’s forced heirship, in detail.

Why a foreign trust isn’t a Brazilian solution

A US revocable living trust is a fine tool at home. In Brazil it is not the answer, for two reasons.

First, Brazil does not recognize the common-law trust as a device that splits legal and beneficial ownership for succession purposes. It will not move your Brazilian real estate out of the inventário or around the legítima.

Second — and this is recent and often missed — Lei nº 14.754/2023 now looks straight through trusts for Brazilian tax. For a Brazilian-resident settlor or beneficiary, the law treats the trust’s assets as still belonging to the settlor; they pass to the beneficiary at distribution or at the settlor’s death, whichever comes first; that passage is treated as a gift (if during life) or an inheritance (if on death) — squarely inside Brazilian succession and potentially ITCMD; the trust’s income is taxed to the Brazilian-resident owner; and the trust must be disclosed on the annual return. In other words, for anyone Brazilian-resident, the trust is transparent, not a shield.

Keep your trust for what it does well abroad. Do not rely on it for Brazil. Related: asset governance and holdings.

The Brazilian holding (holding familiar) — when it actually helps

A common and effective Brazilian tool is to contribute Brazilian assets into a Brazilian holding company, so you own quotas rather than the property directly. Done right, it can simplify administration and succession, let you keep control through a reserved usufruct, and interact deliberately with the disposable half. Contributing real estate to pay in the company’s capital is immune from ITBI (the municipal transfer tax) — though the Supreme Court (Tema 796) has held that immunity does not cover value contributed above the capital actually paid in, which is taxed.

Its limit matters: a holding does not by itself defeat forced heirship — quotas are still reached by the legítima and by the marital property regime. A holding is worth its ongoing cost for a portfolio or a larger-value estate, rarely for a single home, and it is built to your facts. Related: holding a Brazilian property through an entity · lifetime estate planning.

The tax picture (the short version)

There is no estate or gift tax treaty between Brazil and countries like the United States, which means two tax systems can reach the same estate with no treaty to reconcile them. On the Brazilian side, ITCMD is a state tax on inheritances and gifts — historically capped at 8%, and under the 2023 constitutional reform (EC 132/2023) it is becoming progressive, so expect effective rates to rise. On your home-country side the rules differ and can overlap; we coordinate with your local tax advisor rather than duplicate that analysis here.

One practical flag for US persons: receiving a Brazilian inheritance or large gift generally triggers an IRS information report (Form 3520) once it crosses the annual threshold — the inheritance itself is not income-taxed, but failing to report it is penalized. Other countries have their own reporting. We flag these and hand the home-country filing to your tax advisor. Related: inheritance taxes and fees in Brazil.

What actually works — and why every plan is different

The levers are known: coordinated situs wills; a Brazilian holding where scale justifies it; lifetime gifts with reserved usufruct within the disposable half; life insurance; and the right marriage property regime. None of them is a plug-in answer. The design — which combination, in which order, across which countries — turns entirely on your family, your assets, your heirs and your tax residence. That design is the work, and it is why an off-the-shelf will or a downloaded trust is precisely the wrong move for a two-country family.

How we coordinate your two-country plan

We anchor and drive the Brazilian side — the Brazilian will, the holding where it fits, the forced-heirship planning, and eventually the inventário — and we make it agree with your home-country plan rather than contradict it. Your foreign will must be drafted by an attorney licensed where you live: we are licensed in California and Texas and handle that side directly there, and elsewhere we work in close, coordinated fashion with qualified counsel in your state or country. Both sides see both plans before anything is signed.

Every week we onboard matters from families who discovered — at a death, or at a sale — that their two countries’ documents contradicted each other. Coordinated in advance, that simply does not happen. It is not a form you fill in; it is a plan we build with you.

Common questions

Do I need two wills if I own assets in Brazil and another country?

Usually yes — a Brazilian will for your Brazilian assets and a home-country will for the rest, each scope-limited so neither revokes the other. A single worldwide will forces your heirs to drag a foreign document through the Brazilian courts.

Can a new will in my home country cancel my Brazilian will?

Yes, if it contains a general “I revoke all prior wills” clause — the most common way two-country plans self-destruct. Coordinated wills are drafted specifically to avoid it (Código Civil art. 1.970 helps on the Brazilian side).

Will my US or foreign will be recognized in Brazil?

It can be, but only after apostille, sworn translation, registration and judicial confirmation — delay and cost. A Brazilian will avoids that step for your Brazilian assets.

Can I leave my Brazilian property to just one child, or only my spouse?

Not entirely. Brazil reserves 50% (the legítima) for necessary heirs — descendants, ascendants, spouse; you may direct only the other half. You plan within that rule, not around it.

Does my US living trust cover my Brazilian assets?

No. Brazil doesn’t recognize the trust for succession, and Lei 14.754/2023 now taxes it by looking through it for any Brazilian-resident settlor or beneficiary. Use it for your home assets, not for Brazil.

Is there a Brazil–US estate tax treaty?

No. Two tax systems can reach the same estate, so the plan has to be coordinated to manage exposure on both sides.

Do I have to report a Brazilian inheritance to the IRS?

A US person generally must report a foreign inheritance or large gift on Form 3520 above the annual threshold. The inheritance isn’t income-taxed, but missing the report is penalized; your tax advisor handles the filing.

How much is Brazilian inheritance tax (ITCMD)?

It’s a state tax, historically up to 8% and becoming progressive under the 2023 reform, so it varies by state and is trending up. We give you the current figure for the relevant state as part of the plan.

General information only, not legal or tax advice. Cross-border estate rules change and vary by country; confirm your position with counsel in each jurisdiction. Current as of July 2026 — including Lei 14.754/2023 and EC 132/2023.

Related guides: Making a will in Brazil · Recognition of a foreign will · Forced heirship · Inheritance taxes & fees · The probate process · Estate planning hub.