O reconhecimento da filiação socioafetiva pós-morte e seus efeitos pessoais e patrimoniais no direito sucessório

Abstract

This study highlights the social evolution that enabled the overcoming of the traditional notion that a family could only be formed through marriage or biological ties, thereby consolidating socio-affective parenthood under the principle of affectivity. Thus, the research examines the post-mortem recognition of this form of filiation and its personal and patrimonial effects within inheritance law, aiming to identify the resulting legal impacts and the evidentiary challenges involved. To this end, the study adopts a qualitative methodology, theoretical and bibliographic in nature, complemented by case studies and jurisprudential analysis. Moreover, existing studies show that Brazilian case law has increasingly recognized affectivity-based parenthood, even after death, when coexistence, the possession of the status of a child, and the public expression of the relationship are demonstrated, thereby extending to socio-affective children rights such as name, custody, maintenance, and inheritance. In addition, the study underscores the role of affectivity as a central element in succession law: it allows the inclusion of the socio-affective child but may also justify the exclusion of the biological parent for affective abandonment through an expanded interpretation of hereditary unworthiness. The study concludes that, despite jurisprudential consolidation, the absence of explicit regulation in the Civil Code continues to generate evidentiary challenges and legal uncertainty, reinforcing the urgency of approving the proposed reform bill that seeks to formally incorporate socio-affectivity and its legal effects.