Death of Mr. Catra, Brazilian Singer and Father of 30+ Children

Mr. Catra, the controversial Brazilian singer and actor, died earlier this week of stomach cancer.  Born Wagner Domingues Costa, Mr. Catra had 32 or possibly 33 children with 18 women, according to Brazilian news reports (here, e.g.). He also reportedly had two or possibly three "wives," although Brazil does not recognize plural marriages (despite a 2012 ruling by one Brazilian judge that granted civil union status to a trio comprised of two women and one man).

Mr. Catra was trained as an attorney, so let's hope he had a will. Whether he did or not, this estate could turn out to be quite the minefield, given the complexity of Mr. Catra's domestic arrangements.

According to the OpenLab at City Tech description (here) of Brazilian intestacy laws:

If ... the decedent dies intestate, under the laws of Brazil, all of the assets immediately are transferred to the necessary heirs. The necessary or “legitimate heirs” include the descendants, the ascendants, and in certain circumstances the surviving spouse. The assets distributed to the necessary heirs are not of equal amounts but rather in percentages. The percentage of the decedent’s assets distributed are determined by the regime established in the marriage if there is a surviving spouse, the amount of children, whether the children are from both surviving spouse and decedent or just from the decedent, and whether the decedent left ascendants.

Under the inheritance law, if the surviving spouse is the ascendant of the descendants shared with the decedent, then the surviving spouse’s share is in conjunction with the descendants and is entitled to the minimum 1/4^th of the inheritance. If, however, the surviving spouse is not an ascendant of the descendants, the entitlement to at least 1/4^th of the inheritance is not required; therefore, the spouse shall receive the same share as descendants. During the marital property rules, the amount the surviving spouse receives is determined by whether the marriage between the surviving spouse and decedent was under full community property rules, if they were married under separate property regime, or if they were married under partial community property regime with no private property left from deceased.

Brazil does not appear to recognize a descendible right of publicity per se, but offers some protection for a decedent's "physical, psychological, or moral characteristic" (see here).  Under Brazilian copyright law (explained here), artists and, after their death, the artist's heirs "are exclusively entitled to exercise their moral rights (that is, the right to main the integrity of their work, to have their name liked to the work and to oppose any change that would harm their image)" under Law No. 9,610/1998 (Brazilian Copyright Law). Depending on Mr. Catra's wealth management strategy, his right of publicity and any copyrights may be the largest assets in his estate.

How long before litigation begins?