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Brazil Civil Registration

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Civil registration records are kept by all the states on a municipal level. There are over 3,700 municipalities (municípios) in Brazil, with offices of civil registration. The populace register in their local civil registration offices. The records are then sent to the municipal office, district office, or delegation office.

Several small villages will sometimes report births, marriages, and deaths in one central municipality office. Sometimes municipalities existed for a few years and were then dissolved. In villages where this has occurred, births, marriages, and deaths are reported in a neighboring municipality.

Duplicate copies of all civil records are made in separate books. Copies of surviving records and duplicates from the municipality archive are sent to the Arquivo Geral dos Tribunais in the federal district and to the judicial or state archives in the various states.


Birth, marriage, and death records may be found by contacting or visiting local civil registration offices or district and state civil archives in Brazil. The present location of records depends on whether the local office has sent its records to the higher jurisdiction. Most recent records will be found in the local civil registry offices. Older records may be found in the municipality, district archive, or state archive.

Civil registration records in Brazil can be obtained by writing to the local civil registry in the municipality. Civil officials will generally answer correspondence in Portuguese. Your request may be forwarded if the records have been sent to state archives.

After deciding who has jurisdiction over the records for the time period you need, write a brief request to the proper office in Portuguese. Use this address guide below, replacing the information in parentheses:

Cartório de Registro Civil
(postal code), (city), (state)
BRASIL

Historical Background

Since 1827 the Brazilian government has accepted marriages performed in the Catholic Church as official marriages. In 1850 a law was passed requiring registration of births and deaths throughout the country. Until 1870 the Catholic Church was required to keep these record. After 1870 these records were to be kept by the justices of the peace. Compliance was not immediate. While some civil registration records in Brazil date back to the 1860s and 1870s, others did not begin keeping records until as recently as the 1920s.

Because the Catholic Church continued keeping records after the creation of the civil registration, two types of records may be available for births, marriages, and deaths. Be sure to search both records, especially because the two records sometimes contain different information.

For birth, death, and marriage records that were created before civil records began in a particular area, see Brazil Church Records.

Information Recorded in the Records

Births (nascimentos)

Births were usually registered by the infant’s father or by a neighbor of the family within a few days of the event. A birth record includes:

  • The day and time of the birth
  • The newborn’s name
  • The parents’ names
  • The town where the birth occurred (may be different than where it was registered)
  • The address of the house or hospital the birth took place in
  • Sometimes, the parents’ ages
  • Sometimes, birthplaces or residences of the parents
  • Sometimes, the parent's marital statuses
  • Sometimes, the parent's professions
  • Sometimes, the number of other children born to the mother
  • Sometimes, information about the grandparents

Corrections or additions to a birth record may have been added as a note in the margin.

Brazil birth certificate 2.png

Marriages (casamentos)

Early civil marriage entries simply contain the name of the bride and groom and the marriage date. In later years more information was entered, such as:

  • The bride’s and groom’s ages
  • The bride’s and groom’s occupations
  • The bride’s and groom’s civil statuses
  • The bride’s and groom’s residences
  • Sometimes, the bride’s and groom’s parents
  • Sometimes, the bride’s and groom’s grandparents
  • Sometimes, the bride’s and groom’s birthplaces
  • Sometimes, the bride’s and groom’s street addresses

Brazil marriage certificate 2.png

Deaths (óbitos)

Early civil death records are especially helpful because they may list people whom there are no birth or marriage records for, and they may provide information about the person’s birth, spouse, and parents. Deaths were recorded within a few days of the event in the town or city where the person died. Death records generally give:

  • The deceased’s name
  • The deceased’s date
  • The deceased’s place of death
  • Sometimes, the deceased’s age or date of birth (if a child)
  • Sometimes, the deceased’s residence
  • Sometimes, the deceased’s occupation
  • Sometimes, the cause of death
  • Sometimes, burial information
  • Sometimes, the informant’s name (often a relative)
  • Sometimes, the name of a spouse or parents

Be aware that information in a death record about the deceased’s parents, birth date, birthplace, and so on may be inaccurate since the person who gave the information may not have had complete information.

Brazil death certificate 2.png

Divorces (divórcios)

Because divorce was not common until the 1980s, Brazil has very few divorce records. People would get a desquite, which is a legal separation, but the Catholic Church forbade divorce.

Extract Forms

The following extract forms were created by Dr. George Ryskamp, JD, AG®. These forms can be used for research in Brazil and Portugal. Click on the type of record form you would like to use and print it for your own files.

Birth/Baptism Extract Form
Marriage Extract Form
Death Extract Form

These forms are designed to help you quickly analyze and organize your documents. They can become a personal index for your family records.

Additional Resources

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