Vegas may have drive-thru weddings, but Brazil has online divorces. You heard that right. The newest “thing” in Brazil is divorce by Zoom.

In our last article, we wrote about the push to move Brazilian notary services online. Among the many options, one of the services that will now be performed virtually is extrajudicial (or non-judicial) divorces.

Some divorces in Brazil must be resolved in court. For example, if the divorce is contentious, if there are minor children, or if there are allegations of domestic abuse. All of these cases must go through the traditional court process.

But for simple cases - where the divorce is consensual - they have traditionally been done at notary offices. And so as notary services begin to move online, it only makes sense to make extrajudicial divorces available online as well.

Nothing changes in terms of the documentation or legal requirements. The only difference is that you no longer have to be physically present at a notary office. This is a welcome change for spouses who don’t want to see each other anymore (imagine that). It’s also helpful where spouses live in different cities miles apart.

Everything is done through video conferencing where the parties join the notary, review and approve the documents, and then electronically sign. The process must be live so the notary can obtain consent from each spouse - just like if it was done in person.

Divorce is never fun. But at least these new procedures are helping make it a little easier.