The DPU (Federal Public Defender’s Office) has updated the criteria for granting comprehensive and free legal assistance, increasing family income from up to R$2,000 to up to two minimum salaries (R$3,242) starting January 1, 2026.
The resolution was approved by the High Council of the Union Public Defender’s Office. The previous criterion dated from 2016.
The work of the Defender’s Office is aimed at people who cannot afford to hire a private lawyer. In addition to the minimum wage criterion, those whose per capita family income is equal to or less than half the minimum wage, beneficiaries of Bolsa Família, the continuous payment allowance and elderly people whose total income comes from a social security benefit of up to a minimum wage will also be covered.
To define the value, a technical study demonstrated that the value of R$2,000, unchanged since 2016, “has suffered an inflationary delay of more than 63%, representing today only 1.32 minimum wages compared to 2.13 minimum wages at the time of its institution”.
“This silent erosion favors a passive restriction of access to justice, progressively excluding the low-income population without any explicit deliberation on this exclusion,” he explains.
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