The Inheritance Law of 1965 (‘Inheritance Law’) and the Inheritance Regulations of 1998 govern inheritance in Israel and apply to any person who left property in Israel or was an Israeli resident at the time of death. If you have property in Israel and/or are a resident of Israel and you want to determine exactly how your assets will be distributed upon your death, unless you make a Last Will and Testament (“Will”) your assets will be distributed according to the Inheritance Law which specifies the persons who may be heirs and the order of precedence to inherit estate assets.

Wills

In Israel, a Testator (one making a Will) may make a Will as long as s/he is acting of his/her own free will, legally competent and at least 18 years old. Israel’s Inheritance Law recognizes the following four types of valid Wills (each one has certain defined requirements that must be fulfilled according to the Law):

(1) Executed before two witnesses (neither of whom has any interest in the estate);
(2) Handwritten;

(3) Prepared and executed before an authority (i.e., Notary or Court Registrar); and

(4) Oral (Note: Only a person who is on his deathbed or who completely and reasonably regards himself as facing death, may declare a Will orally before two witnesses. An oral will becomes void if the testator is still alive one month after a change to the circumstances which justified its making.).

The Inheritance Law provides that a testator may revoke or change a Will and replace it with a new Will at any time.

If you own property in Israel, even if you have a foreign Will which covers assets outside of Israel, you should consider making an Israeli Will. This is because probating a foreign Will can sometimes incur complications and the process can be lengthy due to foreign wills tending to have estate planning provisions not related to Israeli law or to the property in Israel. The Israeli Registrar may require a notarized translation of an entire foreign Will which can add additional expense and time to obtaining a Probate Order permitting distribution of the asset(s). If you do a Will solely for your Israeli assets, it is important to state that said Will solely refers to your Israeli property and does not revoke other wills regarding property outside of Israel. The Registrar usually does not request a Hebrew translation of a Will in English which is executed in Israel.

A beneficiary of property in Israel under a foreign Will may either petition the Inheritance Registrar for a Probate Order for distribution of the Israeli assets (similar to local Wills) or, if the foreign Will was probated abroad he/she can show proof of the foreign Will (also via petition for a Probate Order) in Israel. Proving a foreign Will can be done by Apostille* if the Will was drafted in a country which is signatory to the Apostille Treaty such as the United States and the United Kingdom (note: Canada and Australia are not signatories to the Apostille Treaty).

A Will is important in many cases (too numerous to list here) as each person’s legal needs are individual and vary from situation to situation. Examples of circumstances when it is advisable to leave a Will include when: (1) the possibility exists that a minor or legally incompetent person will inherit property. (Here, a Will can prevent the Custodian General from intervening to protect the rights of such an heir); (2) if there are special relationships (i.e., same sex relationships; unmarried couples); desire to leave assets to a friend, or favored relative); (3) desire to leave donations; (4) non-resident of Israel leaving Israeli property; and (4) any other specific planned distributions of property.