What a precatório is

Payment does not follow a contractual maturity. It depends on inclusion of the claim in the debtor entity's budget and on the fiscal year in which the queue reaches that position.

Claims presented by 2 April must be included in the following year's budget. Queue position, however, depends on the entity's accumulated stock and its effective capacity to pay.

Food-related claims — salary, social security, legal fees, death or disability compensation — take payment priority over ordinary claims.

Within food-related claims there is further priority for holders aged 60 or over, those with serious illness and persons with disabilities, up to a statutory value cap.

Before budget inclusion, restatement follows the indices applicable to the subject matter litigated.

After inclusion, Constitutional Amendment 113/2021 fixed the SELIC rate as the sole index for restatement and default interest on treasury debts — a material simplification, but one requiring attention to the cut-off date between the two regimes.

The holder may assign the claim to a third party, in whole or in part. Assignment is onerous, formalised by its own instrument and notified to the court so the assignee can be recognised.

Assignment does not change the nature or queue position of the claim — with one relevant exception: personal priorities based on age, serious illness or disability do not transfer to the assignee.

The chain of prior assignments must be intact and documentarily verifiable.

Liens, attachments and encumbrances over the claim compromise its liquidity.

Tax debts registered against the original holder may be set off by the debtor entity.

The existence of rescissory action or pending appeal on an ancillary question must be verified even after final judgment on the merits.