The Myriad of Ways to Terminate a Contract

We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating - Be Careful With That Brazilian Translation to English. English and Portuguese have many false cognates. Add some legalese to the mix and you have a perfect recipe for utter confusion.

Documents written in a foreign language must be translated to Portuguese for use in Brazil. Either a certified or free translation will be required depending on how the document is being used. But you shouldn't rely only on what you get from a translator.

Think about how you might refer to the right to terminate a contract. In Portuguese, there are multiple ways to refer to termination. And rather than just choosing your favorite, you (or the translator) should know when to use each.

Rescisão is a general term that refers to termination, but it won’t always work or have the meaning of “rescission” in English. It depends on the context.

Resolução means the termination of a contract when there’s been a breach. Here again, it has nothing to do with the word “resolution” in English.

Resilição refers to termination when there’s no breach but one or all of the parties want to end the contract. Yet be careful. If just one party wants to terminate, he sends a denúncia; if it’s the desire of all of the parties, they proceed with a distrato.

Make sure you know what’s in a document in another language. You won’t want to find yourself in the middle of a dispute because you got lost in translation.