POST-MORTEM SOCIO-AFFECTIVE FILIATION: AFFECTION AS A CONSTITUTIVE ELEMENT OF PARENTHOOD IN BRAZILIAN LAW

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the possibility of recognizing socio-affective filiation after the death of the affective parent in Brazilian law, analyzing its legal foundations, challenges, and inheritance implications. The research starts from the understanding that the 1988 Federal Constitution, by enshrining the principles of human dignity and the best interests of the child and adolescent, transformed the concept of family, conferring on affection the status of a structuring element of parental relationships. Using a qualitative approach, through bibliographic and documentary research, the study analyzes specialized doctrines, provisions of the National Council of Justice, and jurisprudence of the Superior Court of Justice, which have recognized socio-affective parenthood even post-mortem. It was found that, although there are significant advances in doctrine and jurisprudence, there are still legal gaps that compromise legal certainty and hinder the standardization of judicial decisions. It is concluded that the recognition of post-mortem socio-affective filiation is a judicial and social necessity, capable of ensuring fundamental rights and promoting the effectiveness of the constitutional principles of equality, affection, and human dignity.