05/05/2025
Now, more than ever, personal relationships have become increasingly more complex resulting in diverse financial effects. Thus, estate planning has acquired extreme importance, in such a way that the execution of a last will has proven to be a prudent measure of security in the succession of assets.
For providing such services, such as the preparation and conservation of public deeds, by delegation of the Public authority, notary offices are key. Regarding the fees collected, although general regulations are determined by federal legislation (Law no. 10,169/2000), the exact amount to be charged is the responsibility of each State, always following the settled legal limits.
Nevertheless, Law no. 10.169/2000, in its 3rd Article, prohibits the fixation of a percentage over the value of the relevant legal transaction. In this regard, it has always been the practice of notary offices to charge fixed fees and/or fees based on ranges associated with stipulated values. In the State of São Paulo, for example, in 2025, the execution of a last will by means of a public deed with financial content, is currently charged in a fixed value of R$ 2,371.75.
However, in the state of Minas Gerais, the emoluments involving the production of a last will with financial content are defined according to ranges, based on the amount of the assets.
Until the end of 2024, in acts involving amounts up to R$ 3,2 million, the emoluments varied according to preestablished price ranges, but for acts that had values exceeding R$ 3,2 million, the notary costs never exceeded a certain limit.
When State Law no. 25.125/2024 came into force, the registry offices of Minas Gerais started to define the value of emoluments progressively, also for deeds with a financial content above R$ 3,2 million, so that a fee of R$ 3,000 is now added to the emoluments for every R$ 500,000.00 range, which may eventually result in a significant increase in the amount of costs for the testator.
The intention behind this change is evidently aimed at increasing public revenues. As a result, there has been an “exodus” from the State of Minas Gerais to other States, for the execution of last wills by public deed or even consideration of the option to execute a private will.
In addition to that, some notary offices are requesting, as proof of the testator’s assets, disclosure of his/her income tax return, which is then filed and kept in their records. This practice goes against tax secrecy, which protects this type of information from becoming public domain.
Therefore, charging emoluments based on the value of the testator’s assets, without a clearly defined limit, raises concerns about inequality in the access to public notary services and, especially, about privacy and tax secrecy.
Co-authored by: Marcelo Trussardi Paolini and José Silvano Garcia Junior
