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.
Federal documents — FBI background checks, USCIS naturalization certificates, IRS letters — cannot be apostilled by Texas; they go to the U.S. Department of State. We confirm the correct authority before anything is filed, so your documents are never rejected on a technicality.
Brazil's property power-of-attorney requirements
For a real estate sale, Brazil requires a procuração pública granting specific and express powers that describe the property itself — its address, the matrícula (registration) number, and its approximate value. A general, all-purpose mandate is not enough and creates a real risk that the transaction is declared null.
There are two practical routes:
- Procuração pública at a Brazilian consulate. You appear in person at a Brazilian consulate in the U.S., and the consul drafts the power of attorney in Portuguese. This has the same validity as a Brazilian escritura pública. It needs no apostille and no translation, and cartórios accept it directly. This is usually the cleanest option.
- U.S. power of attorney, apostilled and translated. You sign the power of attorney before a Texas notary, obtain the Texas apostille, and mail the original to Brazil. There it must undergo a tradução juramentada by a public sworn translator registered with the state Junta Comercial, and then be registered in the Cartório de Registro de Títulos e Documentos.
Documents you'll need
- A power of attorney with specific powers naming the property (address, matrícula number, approximate value)
- Your valid passport or identification
- The full name and CPF (Brazilian tax number) of your attorney-in-fact
- Property details from the matrícula provided by your representative in Brazil
- The Texas apostille (route 2 only)
- The tradução juramentada and registration with the Cartório de Registro de Títulos e Documentos (route 2 only)
Translation
If your document is in English, Brazil requires a tradução juramentada by a sworn public translator registered with the state Junta Comercial — an ordinary translation will not do. Documents already written in Portuguese, including those issued in other CPLP (Portuguese-speaking) countries, are exempt from this requirement. A consular procuração is written in Portuguese by the consul, so it avoids translation altogether.
We handle the whole apostille — you don't travel to Austin
Our firm provides full-service apostille handling: we prepare your document, coordinate Texas notarization or certified copies, file the Universal Apostille request with the Secretary of State, add U.S. Department of State and embassy legalization when a country requires it, arrange certified translation, and deliver the finished documents to you or your recipient abroad.
We also coordinate directly with your counsel overseas — a barrister or solicitor in Commonwealth countries, an advocate in South Asia, a notario público in Latin America — so the document is drafted with the exact wording their registry, court, or bank requires before anything is apostilled.
- 📞 Phone: (281) 348-6723
- 📧 Email: busbytexas@gmail.com
- 📍 715 E. Whitney, Houston, TX 77008
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A note on accuracy
Apostille and legalization requirements change, and each receiving institution — a foreign land registry, bank, pension office, or consulate — can impose its own rules. This article reflects requirements verified in 2026 and is general information, not legal advice. Contact us so we can confirm the current requirements for your specific document and destination before you file.
For the full statewide process — fees, timelines, document types, and the Hague vs. non-Hague paths — see our complete Texas Apostille Guide.