Acknowledged both for providing legal services in highly complex cases, and for its ability to design innovative strategic solutions, the purpose of law firm Yunes Fraiha Advogados, established on January 15, 2003, has been to always have clients’ best interests in mind, irrespective of the magnitude of the case – “There is no small cause – clients are always key”.
Thanks to his strong background in law dating back to 1995, the firm’s founding partner, Fábio Yunes Fraiha, has managed to organize a traditional and specialized legal practice, governed by sound ethical and moral principles, consolidated throughout the history of Yunes Fraiha Advogados.
Yunes Fraiha Advogados is widely recognized for its practice in the fields of Condemnation/Expropriation, Real Estate and Civil Law, having achieved great honors in the legal community in a very short period of time. The firm nevertheless also takes cases in other fields of law with the same diligence, thus offering full and quality legal services to its clients.
The specialized knowledge of the Yunes Fraiha Advogados team provides for its excellence in the practice of law, especially in what concerns condemnation-related cases, tailor-made structures for the real estate market and effective solutions for the most complex disputes in civil prevention and litigation.
In 1995, the founding partner of Yunes Fraiha Advogados began his career in Public Law, specifically in the field of urban and rural real estate condemnation. Having resorted to professionals specialized in government-related litigation, in the defense of constitutional rights of the condemnees, by seeking fair and prior condemnation money, Yunes Fraiha Advogados has stood out in the legal market thanks to its sound practice. The expertise of the law firm’s team and the work performed by highly skilled technical assistants part of the Brazilian Institute of Engineering Appraisals and Expert Exams (“IBAPE”), has helped Yunes Fraiha Advogados become one of the leading firms in the achievement of pursued condemnations, thanks to its unique efficiency and best results obtained for its clients in the increase of the condemnation money offered by Government Authorities.
Protection of property rights, based on the Brazilian Constitution.
Assessment of the legal requirements of the condemnation proceeding filed by the Government Authority.
Defense of fair and prior condemnation money.
Importance of challenging the proceeding before preparing the temporary appraisal report.
Follow-up of the drafting of the temporary and final appraisal reports, including the loss of the property, in whole or in part, replacement cost and non-transferability of the property during the performance of the work by the Government Authority, among other issues that must be part of any fair indemnification.
Certification of compliance with the laws in force for the temporary and final vesting in the real estate possession.
Advisory services in the regularization of the chain of title of the property and cancellation of any charges, among other acts required to increase the condemnation money before courts, based on Condemnation Decree-Act 3,365/1941.
To seek the compliance with any judgment awarded against the Government Authority, up to the receipt of the full condemnation money.
Assessment of the legal possibility to claim damages for loss of goodwill and loss of profits.
Decree is published declaring the private real estate as public utility, public need, or social interest, and the Public Authority is authorized to file the relevant expropriation action.
After the action is filed, the Expropriating Public Authority attributes, on a one-sided basis, the value of the initial offering it understands as fair for the real estate.
The Judge appoints a Court-Appointed Surveyor trusted thereby for the preparation of a Prior Appraisal Report.
For its expertise, the firm advises its clients to file a Plea even before the writ of summons and service is issued, and the Prior Report prepared, time when the value offered by the Public Authority is challenged, and presents the best market comparative elements, along with questions to be answered by the court-appointed surveyor. The main objective is the increase of the indemnification value.
Upon the issue of the Prior Report, the Public Expropriating Authority must fully deposit, before courts, the assessed amount, as indispensable condition for vesting in possession of the real estate.
Once authorized by the Judge to vest in possession, the Expropriated Party may cause the survey of 80% of the amounts deposited in the proceeding, and for that, it shall submit, before courts: i) title search certificate for the real estate; ii) real estate tax clearance certificate; and iii) publishing of notes for third parties’ knowledge.
After the real estate possession is lost, and provided that 80% of the amounts assessed in the Prior Report are raised, the Court-Appointed Surveyor shall prepare the Final Report.
The parties’ technical assistants shall prepare the Dissenting Technical Opinion to the Final Report.
The Judge shall initiate the term for the parties to submit their final allegations, and he shall after issue sentence condemning the Public Authority to the payment of fair indemnification, and declaring the real estate incorporated to the Public Expropriating Authority.
The Public and the Private Expropriating Authority may bring appeals on merits against the lower court sentence, which shall be judged by the relevant State Court of Justice.
The Court of Justice shall decide upon the disputed matters, and issue decision through collegiate body, upon the issue of the Final Court Decision.
Special and extraordinary appeals may be brought, respectively to the High Court of Justice and the Federal Supreme Court, when, in summary, the Final Court Decision counteracts the federal laws or the Constitution of the Republic.
After the judgment of appeals by the Court of Justice, the proceeding shall return to the court of origin, time when the remaining 20% of the indemnification already deposited in the court records shall be raised.
The sentence to be served by the Public Authority for the payment of the penalties arbitrated in court, especially the refund of legal costs and expenses and the fees of the expropriated party’s technical assistant is initiated. If the Public Expropriating Authority is a Municipality, State, the Federal District or the Federal Government, the payment of the total amount due to the Individual shall be made through judicial bond (treasury bond). On the other hand, in the event that the Public Expropriating Authority is a quasi public corporation, for instance, Metro, CPTM, CDHU, SABESP, DERSA, among others, the payment shall be made cash.
Against the full payment of the indemnity to the Individual, the ownership on the real estate is finally conveyed to the Public Authority, with the consequent issue of the letter of award.
According to Section 34-A, Paragraphs One and Two of the Condemnation Decree-Act 3,365/1941 (included by Act 13,465, of 2017), Condemnees may draw one hundred percent (100%) of the amount determined by the relevant judgment, irrespective if final and unappealable, provided Condemnees agree to the immediate conveyance of the property to the Government, upon issue of the letter for compulsory conveyance of ownership (“carta de adjudicação”), without such act implying any waiver of the right to claim for the increase of the relevant damages awarded before Higher Courts.
The case is closed.
Yunes Fraiha Advogados is greatly acknowledged by its clients in the real estate market thanks to the high-end and tailor-made strategies developed to meet client needs, thus ensuring legal safety and efficiency and achievement of targeted results. The law firm manages to associate the resourcefulness of its team to understand the profile of the parties involved in the transaction to the best practices available in order to obtain successful closings.
Our team stands out in the market thanks to its knowledge of and strong background in real estate law, as well as in civil litigation, thus contributing to the discussion of the contractual grounds and clauses in all the cases.Our lawyers are widely experienced in complex real estate structures, directly participating in negotiations and drafting the relevant legal documents, focused on the acquisition and commissioning of real estate projects.In order to ensure the quality and effective time management skills in the due diligence of real estate acquisitions, Yunes Fraiha Advogados counts on a highly skilled and trained team that takes part in all of the development steps of real estate developments, from conception to final implementation thereof, thus relying on its expertise to service the leading market developers, builders and constructors.
Advisory services provided in real estate transactions, including purchases, exchanges, financial exchanges, exchanges with promise to give future units in payment and exchanges of shares/units, among others.
Organization of corporations, limited-liability companies, special purpose entities (SPEs), private equity funds and drafting of shareholders’ or members’ agreements.
Structuring and organization of commercial or residential property developments, industrial and logistics warehouses and facilities and flats and hotels, including the delivery of the necessary collateral.
Legal due diligence for real estate purchase.
Draw-up of the development brief and declaration of condominium and bylaws.
Organization of housing developments and platting procedures.
Drafting of residential and non-residential lease agreements, built-to-suit agreements and loan for use agreements.
Draw-up of building and service agreements for real estate projects.
Draw-up of teaming agreements for real estate developments.
Filing for the correction and merger of property records.
Organization of gifts/donations and usufruct.
Organization of out-of court adverse possession.
Organization of out-of-court auction in transfers in trust (fiduciary transfer).
Advisory services, filing of claims and answers in real estate legal proceedings.
Termination or enforcement of property purchase and transfer agreements, whether before or after the handover of keys.
Eviction actions in commercial and residential leases with effective or expired agreements.
Actions for repossession, vestment in possession, maintenance in possession, prohibitory interdict (action against disturbance of nuisance) and petitory action (action to establish and enforce property rights).
Actions for lease review and renewal.
Claims arising from construction defects.
Embargos on construction sites.
Execution of mortgage and transfer in trust of property given as security.
Claim for adverse possession.
Judicial sale of property.
Court-supervised correction of property records.
Thanks to its team of leading specialists in the field, Yunes Fraiha Advogados actively pursues the defense of its clients’ rights and interests, thus ensuring excellence in the application and development of strategies on the civil procedure and substantive law rules in each case. Our lawyers generally seek amicable solutions for any dispute, in lieu of filing for any claims – the motto of our team is “Good settlements over long claims always”.Yunes Fraiha Advogados defends different types of claims before all Courts, Courts of Appeals and Higher Courts (Federal Supreme Court (STF) and Superior Court of Justice (STJ)), focusing its practice on the following matters:
Expropriation/Condemnation.
Real Estate Law.
Civil Law.
Succession and Family Law.
Business Law.
Corporate Law.
Commercial Law.
Consumer Law.
In the best interest of its clients’ interpersonal relations and thanks to its belief in the relevance of a healthy family base considering the hard and competitive world in which we live, Yunes Fraiha Advogados has also put together a team whose practice is focused on the prevention, assistance and settlement of succession and family law matters. Our team provides advisory services to structure and organize succession planning and property protection, thus applying right-restraining clauses (non-transferability, non-disposability and impossibility to levy execution), as the case may be, with respect to personal and real estate property, rights and especially equity interests.
Separation and divorce.
Out-of-court separation and divorce.
Declaration and dissolution of common law marriage.
Change to the marital property system.
Court-supervised and out-of-court distribution of assets.
Action for support order.
Review, dismissal and and execution of support order.
Interdiction.
Prenuptial agreement, common law marriage agreement and affidavit of personal relationship.
Dissolution of common law marriage.
Disputes between spouses or judicial sale of assets that are unavailable for distribution.
Succession planning.
Wills and gifts.
Judicial and out-of-court probate proceedings.
Small-estate probate.
Actions for items of the deceased’s estate that were concealed from the probate proceeding.
Subrogation of the bind on the non-disposability of assets.
Our law firm’s business law practice includes advising clients on all corporate types, especially corporations, limited-liability companies, special purpose entities (“SPEs”), and private equity funds (“SCP”). Our lawyers have a strong background in the development of corporate structures that cater to clients’ private and corporate interests, thus organizing tailor-made business and equity holding companies.
Organization of corporations, limited-liability companies, special purpose entities (SPEs), private equity funds and drafting of shareholders’ or members’ agreements.
Amendments to articles of organization and incorporation to adjust such documents to the company’s institutional needs and the interests of its partners, members or shareholders.
Transfer of assets in corporate capital.
Succession planning.
Equity protection.