Wealth and Succession

Barbieri Advogados acts in succession and wealth-structuring law in a practice that combines succession planning, contentious work and the structuring of holdings patrimoniais (wealth-holding companies geared towards succession planning). The practice operates at a moment of regulatory transition in succession matters: the Brazilian Tax Reform (Lei Complementar nº 214/2025) altered the framework for ITCMD (the Brazilian state tax on transfers by inheritance and donation) — with progressive rates, new triggering events and contribution rules in line with international practice. The firm guides clients through this transition, with a rigorous technical reading of the changes and strategies calibrated to each family’s specific exposure.

The practice is structured around four main pillars. In succession planning, the firm acts on the strategic structuring of business and family succession, on the choice of structures (testamentary, holding patrimonial, holding familiar — family-holding companies, donation with reservation of usufruct, family pacts), and on the integrated reading of tax, corporate and family-law dimensions. In succession instruments, the firm acts on the drafting of wills, gift agreements with reservation of usufruct, succession agreements, holdings patrimoniais and holdings familiares — including protocolos familiares (family pacts establishing succession governance) — and on the structuring of complex succession transactions. In succession contentious work, the firm acts on judicial and extrajudicial inventory proceedings, on arrolamento (simplified inventory proceedings), on actions for the partition of estates, on disputes among heirs, on the reduction of dispositions affecting the legítima (the reserved share due to forced heirs), and on the defence of family interests in disputes involving wills and succession. In wealth protection, the firm structures asset segregation through holdings patrimoniais, advises on the drafting of family pacts and acts in the strategic articulation between succession and the longevity of family business operations.

The practice works in close coordination with Corporate on the structuring of holdings patrimoniais and on family business succession, with Tax on the tax implications of succession transactions (ITCMD, capital gains, and other taxes related to the transfer of assets), with Real Estate on the transfer of real estate and on real estate holding companies, and with Pensions and Social Security on pension planning integrated with succession planning.