Bill 3.096/19 is being processed in the Chamber of Deputies, which seeks to amend the Statute of the Elderly (Law 10.741/03) and establish the reverse mortgage system for persons considered elderly protected by the Code of the Elderly.
If the Bill is approved, it will be permitted for persons aged 60 years or older to sell the property where they live and continue residing at the location.
On the other hand, the buyer would be obliged to pay a kind of lifetime allowance to the elderly person, who would thus have access to a new source of income. Only upon the death of the elderly person would the buyer effectively become the owner of the property.
For Maria Luíza Póvoa, lawyer and president of the Commission on the Elderly Person of the Brazilian Institute of Family Law – IBDFAM, it is a quite interesting project for the generation of income for the elderly in the country due to the situation of penury experienced by many individuals in this population bracket.
“Often, the property where they live is the only asset of this elderly person who, it is worth emphasizing, has difficulty remaining in the labor market. The most common is that, when retired or receiving a pension, their income does not exceed one minimum wage”, she says.
The lawyer emphasizes that the creation of the reverse mortgage system is in line with the policies of protection of the elderly defended by the IBDFAM, especially with respect to the right to housing, which is one of the most important precepts for human dignity.
However, she recalls that it is necessary for the matter to be thoroughly discussed by public or third-sector entities and institutions related to the rights of the Elderly, such as the IBDFAM, since the text of the Bill amends the Statute of the Elderly, a great advance in Brazilian society.
“In countries such as the USA and the United Kingdom, where the population’s life expectancy has increased, the reverse mortgage is already used, but it is necessary to study the issue from the perspective of the Brazilian reality and its peculiarities, in order to protect the rights of the elderly in an absolute and effective manner”, she states.
Maria Luíza also says that the approval of a law on the matter must guarantee that the elderly person does not run the risk of being evicted from their home. “Should this system be implemented in Brazil, it must be regulated by the public authorities so that the values of the mortgage are not financially disadvantageous for the elderly person, thus avoiding the system becoming a form of exploitation of this population”.
Deprivation of inheritance
Also being processed in the Chamber of Deputies is Bill 3.145/15, which includes among the cases of disinheritance (deprivation of the right of inheritance) the abandonment of a person in hospitals, health facilities, long-term care entities or similar institutions.
The text, which has already been approved by the Committee on Constitution and Justice and Citizenship of the Chamber of Deputies and is at the Steering Board of the Chamber awaiting the filing of an appeal, amends the Civil Code (10.406/02) and determines that disinheritance shall be considered both the abandonment of the elderly by children and grandchildren and the abandonment of children and grandchildren by parents and grandparents.
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Source: Communications Office of the IBDFAM
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