A desvinculação do ex-sócio do aval prestado em livrança em branco

Abstract

The admissibility of an ex-partner’s release from a guarantee (aval) granted through an incomplete promissory note (livrança em branco) represents a matter of particular relevance within commercial and banking practice. This form of guarantee, whose effects may seriously and enduringly impact the personal assets of partner-guarantors, is especially sensitive in the context of long-term relationships between banking or credit institutions and commercial companies, particularly after the termination of the corporate relationship with their guarantors. This study seeks to examine, based on the main doctrinal and jurisprudential orientations, the nature and specific features of the aval, the contours of the (pre-)bill commitment arising from the subscription of incomplete instruments and their respective filling agreements (pactos de preenchimento), as well as the possibility of release of the guarantor who has, in the meantime, dissociated from the company. It further analyses the impact of the Supreme Court’s Uniformization Judgment No. 1/2025, which revisits and clarifies the position previously established by Uniformization Judgment No. 4/2013, deemed somewhat controversial. Accordingly, this paper aims to contribute to an updated and clarifying understanding of this subject matter by articulating the particularities of this type of guarantee with the principles of proportionality, good faith, and the prohibition of perpetual obligations, while demonstrating how the recent judicial interpretation has redefined the limits of the aval liability of the ex-partner guarantor and its practical repercussions.