If you live in Texas but need to buy, sell, or inherit real estate in Brazil, you usually cannot handle the closing yourself from abroad. Instead, you sign a power of attorney (a procuração) authorizing a trusted person or lawyer in Brazil to act for you before the cartório. Getting that document to work in Brazil is where most people get stuck — the requirements are strict, and a defective power of attorney can make the entire sale void.
This page explains how to prepare a Texas power of attorney that a Brazilian cartório will accept, and when you can skip the apostille entirely.
What an apostille is
An apostille is a certificate that authenticates a public document — a notary's signature, a court seal, a registrar's certification — so it will be accepted by authorities in another country. For countries in the Hague Apostille Convention, the apostille is the finish line. For countries outside it, the same Texas certificate is the first step in a short legalization chain.
Does an apostille work in Brazil?
Yes. Brazil joined the Hague Apostille Convention in 2016, so a Texas document carrying a Texas apostille is recognized in Brazil without any further consular legalization. You do not need to visit a Brazilian consulate to authenticate an apostilled U.S. document.
That said, an apostille only authenticates the U.S. notary's signature. It does not fix a power of attorney that is too vague to satisfy Brazilian property law — which is the more common problem.
How the Texas Secretary of State apostille works
Texas apostilles come from a single office: the Secretary of State's Authentications Unit in Austin. There is no county-clerk step — a document notarized by any Texas notary, in any of the 254 counties, goes straight to the state. Since October 2023 Texas issues one Universal Apostille (Form 2102) that works for every destination, whether or not the country belongs to the Hague Apostille Convention.
The state fee is $15 per document. Mailed requests can take up to 25 business days; in-person and appointment service in Austin is same-day for up to 10 documents, and a bulk drop-box handles larger batches in 24–48 hours. There is no online submission — every request is handled by mail or in person. Certified copies of vital records (birth, death, marriage, divorce) must be less than five years old.