Sandra Passos was an American who became a millionaire in the stock market. She was a single mother who took on a second job as a real estate agent to support her family. She loved her children but felt that she had let them down by not finding a relationship of any sort. Her thoughts turned to the possibility of finding love again, but she quickly decided to look for it and pass away the good news to her family, “I have found my true love”. This lead her path being heavily traveled throughout time and space and finally to marry Jose da Silva Pereira in Brazil.
As in the case of Passos, Sandra’s decision to remarry involved changing her nationality from Brazilian to Brazilian. This was done in order to protect her financial interests in both countries and also in order to preserve the marriage that had been so important to her. This action came about through the efforts of her lawyer, pretending to be a Portuguese American in order to gain passage into Brazil, as her real parents had died many years before. While Brazilians were initially taken back by this, Sandra’s expertise in passing as a Brazilian citizen allowed her to successfully blend in with the community in which she lived.
This example is one of the more unusual examples of marital status change that can occur in present times. In many cases, spouses do not simply choose to change their marital status in order to avoid paying taxes or receive certain benefits. However, in the case of Sandra Passos, her decision to remain with her husband was motivated by her real passion for Brazil. Had she been able to retain her citizenship, it is possible that she might have married another Brazilian and then continued her life there, rather than returning to the United States and marrying Jose da Silva Pereira.