Skip to content

Brazil

Jurisdiction code: BR · Legal system: civil-law
Language(s): pt

Brazil is the world's only PA-recognition statutory jurisdiction, having enacted Lei nº 12.318/2010 (Lei da Alienação Parental), which defines alienação parental and prescribes a graduated catalogue of judicial remedies. The Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) and Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) have moderated the statute via a 'no-automaticity doctrine' built in STJ REsp 1.859.228/SP and REsp 2.108.750/GO; the STF dismissed ADI 6273/2019 on standing without reaching the merits. Together with Spain (which legislates in the opposite direction), Brazil is one of the only two world jurisdictions with statutory PA legislation.

PA recognition status

  • Statutory: recognises
  • Apex court position: middle
  • Professional regulator position: position-statement-against

Statutory framework

  • Lei nº 12.318/2010 (Lei da Alienação Parental — LAP), arts. 1º–2º, 5º, 6º — Dispõe sobre a alienação parental e altera o art. 236 da Lei nº 8.069/1990 (2010) — https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2007-2010/2010/lei/l12318.htm
  • World's only express statutory recognition of parental alienation. Arts. 1º–2º define alienação parental; art. 5º mandates perícia psicológica ou biopsicossocial; art. 6º sets the graduated catalogue of remedies (advertência → ampliação do regime de convivência → multa → acompanhamento → alteração da guarda → fixação cautelar do domicílio → suspensão da autoridade parental).
  • Lei nº 8.069/1990 (Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente — ECA) — Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (1990) — https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l8069.htm
  • Children's-rights framework; intervention of Ministério Público and Conselho Tutelar; art. 247 anchors anonymisation of children in judicial publications.
  • Constituição Federal de 1988, art. 227 — Prioridade absoluta dos direitos da criança e dignidade da pessoa humana (1988) — https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/constituicao.htm
  • Constitutional anchor for best-interests-of-the-child and dignidade da pessoa humana — used by STJ to moderate art. 6º Lei 12.318/2010 remedies.
  • Código Civil, art. 1.583 — Guarda compartilhada (shared custody) regime (2002) — https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/2002/l10406compilada.htm
  • Civil-code shared-custody default; interacts with Lei 12.318/2010 art. 6º, V (alteração da guarda) when family court considers custody inversion as PA remedy.
  • Lei nº 11.698/2008 — Institui a guarda compartilhada (2008) — https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2007-2010/2008/lei/l11698.htm
  • Statutory introduction of guarda compartilhada that pre-dates and underlies the post-2010 PA-remedy architecture.
  • Lei nº 13.709/2018 (LGPD) + ECA art. 247 + CPC art. 189, II — Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais + segredo de justiça em causas de família (2018) — https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2015-2018/2018/lei/l13709.htm
  • Statutory basis for anonymisation: family-law cases run em segredo de justiça under CPC art. 189, II; ECA art. 247 prohibits identification of children in judicial-news publications; LGPD reinforces minimisation of personal-data exposure.
  • Lei nº 13.431/2017 — Sistema de Garantia de Direitos da Criança e do Adolescente Vítima ou Testemunha de Violência (escuta especializada e depoimento especial) (2017) — https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2015-2018/2017/lei/l13431.htm
  • Protective child-hearing procedures invoked by STJ in REsp 2.108.750/GO to require independent evidentiary treatment of abuse allegations within PA proceedings.

Apex courts

Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) — Terceira Turma

https://scon.stj.jus.br/SCON/ - REsp 1.859.228/SP (Rel. Min. Nancy Andrighi) — consolidated no-automaticity doctrine: inversion of custody under art. 6º, V Lei 12.318/2010 is not the default response to an alienating-conduct finding; family court must apply graduated catalogue starting with less invasive remedies and weigh the child's emotional stability (2024) — middle — stj-resp-1859228-sp-2024 - REsp 2.108.750/GO — cross-allegation symmetrical evidentiary discipline: where the record contains sexual-abuse allegations against the parent invoking alienation, the family court may not collapse the abuse evaluation into the PA framework; perícia under art. 5º must independently engage with the abuse allegations (2024) — middle — stj-resp-2108750-go-2024 - REsp 1.654.111/DF (Rel. Min. Villas Bôas Cueva) — early no-automaticity formulation, precursor to the 2024 line (2017) — middle

Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF)

https://portal.stf.jus.br/ - ADI 6273/2019 — Ação Direta de Inconstitucionalidade challenging Lei 12.318/2010 dismissed on standing (não conhecimento); no merits ruling on the constitutionality of the statute (2019) — middle

Tribunais de Justiça estaduais (TJ-SP, TJ-RJ, TJ-MG) — state-level family-law lines

https://www.tjsp.jus.br/ - State-level family-law jurisprudence applying Lei 12.318/2010 graduated remedies; TJ-SP and TJ-RJ produce the largest volume of appellate PA case law in Brazil (2024) — middle

Professional regulators

  • Conselho Federal de Psicologia (CFP) — Nota Técnica nº 4/2022 — joint with CFESS (Conselho Federal de Serviço Social) — sceptical of SAP/PAS as a clinical construct; warns against use of perícia in PA proceedings to override child-safeguarding evidence; institutional critique of Lei 12.318/2010 (2022-01-01) — https://site.cfp.org.br/ — see practitioner br.cfp
  • Conselho Federal de Serviço Social (CFESS) — Joint nota técnica with CFP (2022) against operationalisation of PA in social-work practice; aligned with anti-revictimisation position of CNDH (2022-01-01) — https://www.cfess.org.br/ — see practitioner br.cfess
  • Conselho Federal de Medicina (CFM) — Silent — no institutional position statement on parental alienation as of 2026-05-31 — https://portal.cfm.org.br/
  • Instituto Brasileiro de Direito de Família (IBDFAM) — Legal-practitioner academic association; recognition-aligned with Lei 12.318/2010; principal Brazilian family-law academy that supported original enactment — https://ibdfam.org.br/ — see practitioner br.ibdfam

Anonymisation convention

Children and family parties are identified by initials only in published judgments and in this knowledge base. Statutory basis: LGPD (Lei 13.709/2018) + ECA art. 247 (proibição de identificação de crianças e adolescentes) + CPC art. 189, II (segredo de justiça em causas de família). Child's full name is never used; STJ and TJ publications routinely use initials or 'A.B.' style placeholders.

Key developments

  • 2010 — 26 August 2010 — Lei nº 12.318/2010 (Lei da Alienação Parental) promulgada by Presidente Lula. First and only world statute to expressly define alienação parental and prescribe a graduated catalogue of judicial remedies. — https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2007-2010/2010/lei/l12318.htm
  • 2014 — IBDFAM Anteprojeto do Estatuto das Famílias — academic family-law codification effort that consolidates IBDFAM's recognition-aligned position. — https://ibdfam.org.br/
  • 2017 — STJ REsp 1.654.111/DF (Rel. Min. Villas Bôas Cueva) — early STJ formulation of what would later be characterised as the 'no-automaticity' doctrine on custody inversion under art. 6º, V Lei 12.318/2010. — https://scon.stj.jus.br/SCON/
  • 2019 — STF ADI 6273/2019 — Ação Direta de Inconstitucionalidade challenging Lei 12.318/2010 dismissed on standing; no merits ruling on the constitutionality of the statute. — https://portal.stf.jus.br/
  • 2020 — OAB (Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil) and 23 entidades signatárias manifesto pró-revogação Lei AP — public-interest coalition calling for repeal of Lei 12.318/2010 on the ground that it has been used to discount intra-family-violence and sexual-abuse allegations. — https://www.oab.org.br/
  • 2022 — Conselho Federal de Psicologia (CFP) Nota Técnica nº 4/2022 — joint with Conselho Federal de Serviço Social (CFESS) — institutional critique of SAP/PAS as a clinical construct and of operationalisation of Lei 12.318/2010 in perícia. — https://site.cfp.org.br/
  • 2024 — STJ Terceira Turma REsp 1.859.228/SP (Rel. Min. Nancy Andrighi) — consolidated 'no-automaticity' doctrine: inversion of custody under art. 6º, V Lei 12.318/2010 is not the default response to an alienating-conduct finding; family court must apply graduated catalogue starting with less invasive remedies. — https://scon.stj.jus.br/SCON/
  • 2024 — STJ Terceira Turma REsp 2.108.750/GO — cross-allegation symmetrical evidentiary discipline: where the record contains sexual-abuse allegations against the parent invoking alienation, perícia under art. 5º Lei 12.318/2010 must independently engage with the abuse allegations and may not be collapsed into the PA framework. — https://scon.stj.jus.br/SCON/
  • 2024 — CNJ Protocolo para escuta de criança e adolescente em ações de alienação parental — procedural guidance on child-hearing in PA matters, integrating Lei 13.431/2017 escuta especializada with Lei 12.318/2010 perícia. — https://www.cnj.jus.br/

Structural findings

  • Brazil is the OUTLIER LATAM jurisdiction: while every other Latin American apex court has consolidated against PA recognition between 2017 and 2025 (Argentina CSJN, Chile CS, Colombia CC, Mexico SCJN, Peru CS), Brazil remains the sole jurisdiction with an express statutory PA regime — Lei 12.318/2010.
  • Brazil and Spain are the world's only two statutory PA jurisdictions, and they legislate in opposite directions: Brazil recognises PA expressly (Lei 12.318/2010), Spain inadmits PA via Ley Orgánica 8/2021 (LOPIVI) — establishing the global statutory binary.
  • The IBDFAM family-law academy is recognition-aligned and supported the original 2010 enactment; the CFP-CFESS joint Nota Técnica 4/2022 is the principal institutional critique from the psy-disciplines.
  • STF ADI 6273/2019 was dismissed on standing (não conhecimento) — there is no merits ruling on the constitutionality of Lei 12.318/2010, leaving the statutory regime constitutionally untested at the apex level.
  • STJ Terceira Turma has built a 'no-automaticity' doctrine (REsp 1.859.228/SP + REsp 2.108.750/GO) that moderates Lei 12.318/2010 by (i) requiring graduated application of art. 6º remedies, (ii) preserving the child's emotional stability in current placement, and (iii) requiring independent evidentiary treatment of cross-allegations of abuse.

See also

  • case-study:stj-resp-1859228-sp-2024
  • case-study:stj-resp-2108750-go-2024
  • practitioner:br.ibdfam
  • practitioner:br.cfp
  • practitioner:br.cfess
  • practitioner:br.aguilar-perez-coelho-jose-leite
  • practitioner:br.calcada-andreia
  • practitioner:br.brazil-glicia
  • practitioner:br.dias-maria-berenice
  • practitioner:br.madaleno-rolf
  • practitioner:br.pereira-rodrigo-da-cunha
  • practitioner:br.rosa-conrado-paulino-da-silva
  • practitioner:br.cruz-themis
  • practitioner:br.scarance-vania
  • jurisdiction:argentina

Sources

  1. Lei nº 12.318, de 26 de agosto de 2010 — Lei da Alienação Parental — https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ato2007-2010/2010/lei/l12318.htm (Presidência da República — Casa Civil — Subchefia para Assuntos Jurídicos (Planalto)) [pt]
  2. Lei nº 8.069, de 13 de julho de 1990 — Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (ECA) — https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/l8069.htm (Planalto) [pt]
  3. Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988 — https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/constituicao.htm (Planalto) [pt]
  4. STJ — Jurisprudência (scon) — https://scon.stj.jus.br/SCON/ (Superior Tribunal de Justiça) [pt]
  5. STF — Jurisprudência — https://portal.stf.jus.br/ (Supremo Tribunal Federal) [pt]
  6. IBDFAM — Instituto Brasileiro de Direito de Família — https://ibdfam.org.br/ (IBDFAM) [pt]
  7. Conselho Federal de Psicologia — Nota Técnica nº 4/2022 (joint with CFESS) — https://site.cfp.org.br/ (Conselho Federal de Psicologia) [pt]
  8. ConJur — Consultor Jurídico (legal commentary) — https://www.conjur.com.br/ (ConJur) [pt]
  9. Migalhas — legal news (PA / alienação parental coverage) — https://www.migalhas.com.br/ (Migalhas) [pt]
  10. Lex.com.br — Brazilian legal information — https://www.lex.com.br/ (Lex Editora) [pt]

Editorial notes

  • Primary sources first: statute text always Planalto; STJ jurisprudence via scon.stj.jus.br; STF via portal.stf.jus.br.
  • Verbatim Portuguese preserved for statutory citations (e.g. alienação parental, perícia psicossocial, alteração da guarda, segredo de justiça); translation_en provided in surrounding relevance text.
  • Preserved known fact: Brazil and Spain are the world's only two statutory PA jurisdictions, legislating in opposite directions (Brazil recognises via Lei 12.318/2010; Spain inadmits via Ley Orgánica 8/2021 / LOPIVI).
  • STF ADI 6273/2019 was dismissed on standing (não conhecimento) — there is no merits ruling on the constitutionality of Lei 12.318/2010; this distinction is preserved throughout.

Licensed CC BY 4.0 — AntiAlienate Knowledge. Source of truth is the sibling .json; this .md is rendered. Do not hand-edit.