Recovering a Debt from a Debtor in Brazil: Which Document You Hold Decides Everything

A creditor living abroad can pursue a debtor in Brazil on exactly the same footing as a Brazilian creditor. Access to the courts does not depend on nationality, on residence, or on any reciprocity between countries.

The decisive question is not who you are. It is which document you hold. A contract that qualifies as an executive title goes straight to enforcement — the first judicial act aims at the debtor’s assets — and, for a creditor abroad, it removes a cash barrier that would otherwise apply. Anything short of that starts with a proceeding to establish that the debt exists.

Why does the document matter more than the debt?

Brazilian law splits credit recovery into two tracks.

With an executive title, you file an execução. The court does not first decide whether the debt is owed; it presumes so, and moves to collect. The debtor is summoned to pay in three days, and attachment follows.

Without one, you must first obtain a judicial recognition of the debt, either by a monitory action or an ordinary lawsuit, and only then enforce. In practice this can mean years of difference on the same underlying debt.

What counts as an executive title?

Article 784 of the Code of Civil Procedure lists them. The ones that matter most in cross-border business:

• A public deed, or a private instrument signed by the debtor and two witnesses;
• Bills of exchange, promissory notes, cheques and duplicatas;
• Contracts secured by mortgage, pledge or antichresis;
• Rent and charges due under a lease.

And the change that matters most to foreign contracts: Law 14.620/2023 added paragraph 4 to article 784, providing that for titles created or attested by electronic means, any form of electronic signature permitted by law is accepted, and the two witnesses are dispensed with where the integrity of the document is verified by a signature provider.

That single provision fixed the most common defect in agreements drafted abroad. A supply contract signed on a recognised e-signature platform now carries executive force in Brazil — where, before, the missing witnesses would have pushed the creditor onto the slow track.

What you hold	Route	First judicial act
Contract with two witnesses, or e-signed with verified integrity	Enforcement	Summons to pay in 3 days, then attachment
Cheque, promissory note, duplicata, within its period	Enforcement	Summons to pay in 3 days, then attachment
Written proof without executive force	Monitory action	Order to pay, which becomes enforceable if unopposed
Invoices, e-mails, an informal agreement	Ordinary lawsuit	Summons to defend

The rule that catches foreign creditors: security for costs

Article 83 of the Code of Civil Procedure requires a claimant — Brazilian or foreign — who resides outside Brazil and who holds no real property here to post security sufficient to cover court costs and the opposing party’s legal fees.

For a foreign creditor this can be a real obstacle: money has to be deposited in Brazil before the claim is even heard.

But paragraph 1 of the same article sets out exemptions, and one is decisive:

• where an international treaty or agreement to which Brazil is a party waives it;
• in enforcement based on an extrajudicial title, and in enforcement of a judgment;
• in a counterclaim.

So the executive title does two things at once: it puts you on the fast track and it removes the deposit. This is the strongest practical argument for getting the paperwork right at the time of contracting rather than at the time of default. The Superior Court of Justice has also held that a foreign company duly represented in Brazil need not post the security.

How does enforcement actually run?

1. Summons to pay in three days. Payment inside that window halves the lawyer’s fees fixed by the court — a genuine incentive that resolves part of these cases immediately.
2. Attachment. Failing payment, the court attaches assets. Brazilian courts have direct electronic tools: Sisbajud reaches bank accounts and financial assets, Renajud reaches vehicles, and the registry systems reach real estate. The creditor does not have to locate the assets first.
3. Objection by the debtor. The debtor may file embargos à execução within fifteen days. As a rule they do not suspend the enforcement unless the court so orders and the judgment is already secured.
4. Realisation. Attached assets are converted into money and applied to the debt.

What if the document is weaker?

Two routes remain, and neither is a dead end.

The monitory action serves written proof that lacks executive force. The court issues an order to pay; if the debtor does not object within the deadline, that order becomes an enforceable title. A time-barred cheque or promissory note is the classic case, and the Superior Court of Justice has fixed a five-year period for the monitory action there.

Protest of the instrument, under Law 9.492/1997, is a pre-litigation step that is inexpensive and frequently effective. It records the default publicly, and in Brazil that closes off bank credit quickly. A significant share of debts is paid at this stage, without any lawsuit.

How long is there before the debt is time-barred?

Instrument	Enforcement	Monitory action
Liquidated debt in a public or private instrument	5 years	—
Cheque	6 months from the end of the presentation period	5 years
Promissory note / bill of exchange	3 years	5 years
Duplicata	3 years	5 years

The pattern is worth noting: when the short enforcement period lapses, the monitory route usually remains open. A document that looks dead is worth having examined before it is written off.

A practical example

A Portuguese supplier delivered goods to a Brazilian buyer under a contract signed on an e-signature platform, and was not paid.

Before Law 14.620/2023, the absence of two witnesses would have pushed this onto the slow track — an ordinary lawsuit, and security for costs to be posted in Brazil. Today, if the signature provider verifies the integrity of the document, the contract is an executive title: enforcement is filed directly, the buyer is summoned to pay in three days, attachment through Sisbajud follows, and no security has to be deposited.

The same debt, with the same facts, on two entirely different timelines — decided by how the contract was signed.

Which documents will you need?

• The contract or instrument in its original form, with proof of the electronic signature where applicable.
• Evidence of performance: delivery notes, invoices, correspondence.
• A statement of the amount due, with interest and monetary adjustment calculated.
• CPF or CNPJ of the creditor and, where known, of the debtor.
• A power of attorney for the Brazilian lawyer — see granting a power of attorney from abroad.
• Corporate documents of the foreign creditor, with apostille and sworn translation made in Brazil.

What goes wrong most often?

• Waiting. The short periods for cheques and promissory notes run quickly, and the debtor’s assets do not improve with time.
• Contracts drafted abroad without thought for enforcement in Brazil — no witnesses, no verified electronic signature, no choice of a Brazilian forum.
• Assuming a foreign judgment can simply be enforced. It has to be homologated first — see recognising a foreign judgment in Brazil.
• Filing an ordinary lawsuit when an executive title exists, and posting security that was never necessary.

What is the practical next step?

Before anything else, the document has to be classified: is it an executive title or not? That answer determines the procedure, the timeline, and whether money has to be deposited in Brazil to start. It is a short analysis, and it is the one that shapes the whole recovery.

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Sources: Code of Civil Procedure, articles 83, 700 and following, 784, 827 and 914 and following · Law 14.620/2023, article 34, which added article 784, paragraph 4 · Law 9.492/1997, protest of instruments · Civil Code, article 206.