This section describes who will inherit property owned by someone after they die (known as the deceased's estate) where there is no valid will. The provisions of the relevant Israeli legislation – the Inheritance Law of 1965 - will apply and the people who inherit are known as 'heirs under law'.
Who Can Inherit If There Is No Will ?
Question:
If the person who dies has not left a valid will ,which relatives can inherit under Israeli law ?
Answer:
The Inheritance Act of 1965 lists the family members who can inherit where the deceased has not left a will , or there is property left which is not covered by the will, or the will was not declared valid. The act gives an order of preference. Aside from a spouse (married or common-law) the other family members inherit in descending order (children before parents and parents before grandparents). The given share is divided equally between family members of the same rank (all the brothers and sisters share the “siblings” share equally between them ). The family members who can inherit are:
the deceased’s married or common-law spouse
the deceased’s children and their issue (offspring or descendants)
the deceased’s parents and their issue
the deceased’s grandparents and their issue.
More distant relatives can only inherit if they are beneficiaries in the deceased’s will.
Who Can’t Inherit ?
Question:
Does Israeli law prevent certain people from inheriting ?
Answer:
Yes, the Inheritance Act of 1965 prohibits the following people from inheriting :
(a) anyone found guilty of causing or attempting to cause the intentional death of the bequeathor
(b) anyone found guiltly of destroying his/her last will or making it “disappear”
(c) anyone who forged a will or made a claim under a forged will.
Unborn Baby Can Inherit
Question:
My father died recently. Under his will my children were to inherit a substantial sum of money to be shared between them. I am six months pregnant. Will my baby be entitled to inherit or only his elder brothers and sisters who were alive when my father died ?
Answer:
Under the 1965 Inheritance Law a baby born within 300 days of a deceased’s death is entitled to inherit. So if the baby is born within 300 days of the grandfather’s death he/she will be entitled to inherit just as the other grandchildren, assuming that there are no instructions to the contrary in his will.
This situation contrasts with other legal systems - under English law, for example, a child must be alive at the time of the deceased’s death to inherit unless stated otherwise.
Stepping Into Heirs Shoes
Question:
What happens if an heir dies before the deceased whose estate has to be distributed ?
Answer:
The heir’s descendants step into his/her shoes and inherit his/her part.
Right of State to Inherit
Question:
What happens if someone dies without leaving a will and there are no relatives alive who are entitled to inherit according to law ?
Answer:
According to the 1965 Inheritance Law if there is no will and no heirs who are entitled to inherit, then the State of Israel will inherit the deceased’s estate. It will be used for educational, scientific , health and welfare purposes . However, the act does state that the Treasurer can give part of the estate, or make a payment from it, to a needy person whom the deceased helped to make ends meet, or to a person/organization who helped the deceased make ends meet, or to a relative who is not an heir.
Inheritance Rights of Spouse & Children Upon Death
Question:
Under Israeli law what inheritance rights does a married person with children have if their spouse dies without having left a will ?
Answer:
Under the Inheritance Act of 1965 if a couple are married and one of them dies without having made a will the other is entitled to the family car and the house contents. The rest of the estate (the family home and savings etc) is shared between the remaining spouse (who gets half) and the children (who get the other half between them). A common-law spouse has the same rights as a legally married spouse.
Note -
If the family home was registered in both spouses’ names and one of them dies, then only the deceased’s half enters his estate for distribution. The surviving spouse will actually inherit half of this share – and will have in total three quarters of the family home. The remaining quarter will be divided among the children.
Inheritance Rights of Common Law Spouses – Same Sex & Heterosexual
Question:
Do common-law spouses have inheritance rights under Israeli law and are same sex couples treated the same as heterosexual ones ?
Answer:
Common law spouses have the same inheritance rights as married couples, subject to provisions of the Inheritance Act of 1965. Gradually courts have been interpreting this more broadly, and over recent years the inheritance rights of same sex common-law spouses have been recognized in estate cases, with Nazareth District Court's decision of 2004 recognising the inheritance rights of a surviving common-law spouse in a homosexual relationship. Some courts are more progressive than others.
Inheritance – Deceased Without Spouse or Children, Just Siblings With Offspring
Question:
How will the estate of a person be distributed if he leaves no will, has no spouse or children, and just one brother and one sister still alive, his other brother, who has two children, having died before him?
Answer:
In this situation, according to the Inheritance Act of 1965 the brother and sister will each get a third of the estate, and the deceased brother’s two children (his nephews) will share the remaining third.
Childless Widow – Cohabitee Inherits 2/3 & Brother 1/3
Question:
My widowed sister is in her sixties and has had a relationship with a man for the last few years. She has no children.When her husband died, she sold their flat, invested the money and moved to a small rented apartment. A few years ago she met her gentleman friend. She says she doesn’t want to marry him because she wants me to get everything (her only surviving relative )when she dies. They live together without marrying. This way, she has respectability on the outside (people think she is married) but is protecting my interests, so she says. She has not made a written will, as far as I know. Is she right or is her gentleman friend entitled to inherit ?
Answer:
Now, if the widowed sister has not made a will and this man qualifies as a common-law husband under the 1965 Inheritance Act , then the widowed sister is wrong as this gentleman would be entitled to two- thirds of the estate and her sister a third. To qualify as a common-law husband entitled to inherit from the widowed sister under common law upon her demise, this man would have to show that four conditions existed: (1) family life (2) common household (3) that he was not married to the widowed sister and (4) neither one of them was married to anyone else.
Grandchild’s Inheritance – Grandparent and Parent Dead
Question:
My grandfather died many years after my grandmother. He did not make a will. My father died suddenly, before my grandfather’s estate was divided out. He did not leave a will either. My father had a brother and a sister who are both alive. Will I get any of my grandfather’s inheritance ? I have one brother.
Answer:
Yes. The grandfather’s estate will be divided equally between his three children, according to the Inheritance Act of 1965, in the event of him dying without leaving a will. If one of his children died, then his share will be divided equally between his own children (the grandfather’s grandchildren from his deceased son). Thus, if there are two children each will receive half of their deceased’s father’s share of the grandfather’s estate.
Cohabitees’ Children - Inheritance Rights
Question:
Are children whose parents live together, without marrying one another, entitled to inherit from their parents just as if they were married ?
Answer:
Yes – their right to inherit from their biological parents is the same as it would be if they were married, and has nothing to do with whether they are married to each other or not !
Adopted Child’s Inheritance
Question:
Is an adopted child entitled to inherit from his/her adoptive parents just like their biological children?
Answer:
Yes, an adopted child has just the same rights as his/her adoptive parents’ natural or biological child.
Step-Child and Inheritance
Question:
Does the law entitle a step-son or step-daughter to inherit from a step-parent ?
Answer:
No ! While an adopted child is entitled to inherit from an adoptive parent, a step-child is not, according to the 1965 Inheritance Act. A step-child is not included in the list of family members entitled to inherit when a person dies without living a will.
Separated Wife Still Heir Even Though Husband Cohabits
Question:
I left my wife several years ago, to live with another woman. My wife refuses to co-operate over divorce. We have grown up children . I have not made a will. What would happen to my estate if I died ?
Answer:
As long as a man who has left home to cohabit with another woman remains legally married to his wife , and has not made a will, she, and not the woman he lives with, will inherit his property, according to the terms of the 1965 Inheritance Law . His children will also be his heirs, again according to the terms of the 1965 Inheritance Law. This legislation contains a condition concerning the eligibility of a cohabitee to have rights to a deceased cohabitee's estate as a common-law spouse -neither of them can be married to anyone else at the time the deceased passes away. In the above case, the man is married which would prevent his cohabitee from inheriting as his common-law wife if he died.
Inheritance & Druze - When Wife Becomes Divorcee
Question:
If a Druze man dies without making his will can his ‘wife’ claim part of his inheritance if he has recently divorced her orally according to Druze religious law - but the divorce has not yet been registered at a Druze court ?
Answer:
No. Questions of marriage and divorce between Druze are under the exclusive jurisdiction of Druze religious courts. Under Druze religious law if a husband makes an oral declaration divorcing his wife in the presence of two witnesses as required , then the divorce becomes effective immediately. It does not matter that it has not yet been registered at the Druze religious court.
Accordingly, if a Druze man dies intestate having divorced his wife orally before two witnesses without it being registered at the Druze religious court she has no right to claim as his spouse under the Inheritance Act of 1965.
In an estate case before a district court in November 2000 the ex-wife of a Druze man who committed suicide tried to claim as his wife under the Inheritance Act, arguing that their oral divorce had not become effective as it had yet to be registered at the Druze religious court when he died. Her claim was rejected.
Great Nephew/Niece – Proof Of Being Heir
Question:
My parents are both dead. My great uncle died recently without ever marrying or having children as far as I know. All his brothers and sisters perished in the Holocaust. Am I entitled to inherit anything and how do I go about it ? I am an only child.
Answer:
If someone’s great uncle never married nor had children and died then, theoretically, the great niece or nephew is entitled to inherit something when he dies if no will is left. If the deceased did make a will, then the estate will be distributed according the instructions, if it is upheld.
Supposing no will is made, the intended heir will have to prove that the deceased never married or had children and that he/she is the only great nephew or neice. He/she would be entitled to inherit as sole heir under the Inheritance Act if successful in proving this.
In a case before the Tel Aviv family court in 2001 the court emphasised that someone claiming to be the sole heir had to bring positive, documentary proof backing their claim, not testimony of witnesses. In the case a great niece was successful in her bid to prove she was the only surviving relative of the deceased and was, therefore, entitled to the whole estate which would have otherwise been declared state property. The court accepted a declaratory judgment from a European court stating that the deceased’s sister had died in World War Two without having married or bearing children.
Search For Potential Heirs – Role of Notices in Newspapers
Question:
What kind of evidence is acceptable to show that no other potential heirs to an estate can be found ?
Answer:
Documentary evidence such as death certificates , results of searches in relevant Jewish and civil records in Israel and overseas, plus affidavits , but also publication of appropriate notices in the media both in Israel and abroad has its place, too.
In December 2003 the Supreme Court dealt with an appeal concerning part of the estate of a childless, Polish-born batchelor who had no surviving siblings and who had immigrated to Israel where he died in 1967. Only part of the estate had been distributed – to heirs found on the deceased’s father’s side . For over 30 years since the original order to distribute part of the estate considerable efforts had been made to investigate whether there were surviving heirs on the deceased’s mother’s side . The District Court had held that the heirs on the mother’s side had discharged the burden of proving that there were no heirs on the late father’s side . It said that they could inherit the remaining part of the substantial estate, and an inheritance order to this effect would be given if they gave a written undertaking to reimburse heirs on the late father’s side if they were later found.
The General Guardian appealed against the judgment to the Supreme Court, alleging that positive proof must be supplied to show that there were no potential heirs. The Supreme Court sent the case back to the District Court to check if appropriate notices had been published in the Israeli and foreign press and , if not, to consider whether this should be done
Car & Inheritance
Question:
My mother died recently, without making a will. My parents owned a car. My father, who is in his late seventies, has already given up driving and wants to sell the car my mother used to drive and invest the proceeds . No one has yet applied for an order to distribute my mother’s estate. I am in financial trouble and want to get anything due to me from the sale. Do my brother and I (the only children) inherit any rights in the car ?
Answer:
When a married person dies intestate (without making a will) the car owned by the couple becomes the sole property of their spouse upon their death, according to the Inheritance Law. The children have no right to the car upon a parent’s death or to the proceeds of its sale.
Family Farm - Children’s Inheritance Rights
Question:
My father died recently leaving the family farm to his two children, my sister and I, in equal parts. I have lived on the farm since childhood and raised my children there. I grow flowers for export and vegetables for the home market. I support my wife and children from this. My sister lives in the city. I want to continue living and working on the moshav. My sister wants to sell the farm and divide the proceeds of the sale. How can I protect my interests ?
Answer:
The surviving son should register his “right of first refusal” at the Israel Lands Authority from which farms are rented on long leases in Israel. This right is granted under the Land Law to each heir to a farm. It gives each the first refusal/right to buy their sibling’s share of the farm. This right must be registered within two years of probate but it is best to register it immediately. The procedure for registering the right is set out in the Land Law.
The Inheritance Law gives preference to an heir who is willing and able to work the farm where division of the unit would harm its functioning. This holds where the heir who wishes to stay supports himself and his family from working the land. The law provides a mechanism for compensating the heir who does not wish to work the land.
Having said this, however, there has been a growing trend to “parcelize” land now; as this is legal many farm units can be divided up without harming them functioning as an economic, agricultural unit.This should be investigated by the brother as an alternative to buying his sister’s share of the farm.
Right of Residence v Apartment Heirs
Question:
Do family members who had been living with the deceased in his home have a right to remain in the property if someone else inherits it, and not them ?
Answer:
Yes, if they are the deceased’s spouse, child or parent , they have a right to remain in the property as tenants of the new owners who inherited the property, according to the Inheritance Law of 1965.
Heirs Demand Vacant Possession of Home – Court Protects Other Heir
Question :
I am unmarried, and in my late 30’s. I had been looking after my mother, who is elderly and in poor health, for many years, living with her in her apartment. I have two brothers, who did not live with us. I understand that the apartment passes on to us in equal shares. The problem is that my brothers want to sell the apartment, and divide up the proceeds of the sale between us, and I don’t. I have nowhere else to live, and would not be able to afford to rent or buy somewhere, even if I got my share of the proceeds, as the apartment is small and not worth much. Do I have a right to remain living there ?
Answer:
Yes, according to the Inheritance Law of 1965 a child of a deceased who had been living with his or her parent in the latter’s home has a right to remain there as a tenant of the heirs to the property after the parent’s death . If the brothers cannot come to an agreement about the sister renting the property, she can ask the family court to adjudicate on the matter, and set out the terms of tenancy.
Nephew’s Conflict With Apartment Heir
Question:
I had been living with my elderly uncle for a couple of years. I am a medical student studying near his home. He was a widower and had one child , a son, who lives far away and took little interest in him. I helped look after my uncle, and benefited by the arrangement as I did not have to rent accommodation. He has died recently. He did not make a will. His son, who told me he has inherited the property, told me to vacate it, as he wants to sell it or rent it out. I want to remain living in the apartment until I finish my medical studies. Do I have a right to do so ?
Answer:
No. Firstly, the son, as the only child of a widower, would be the sole heir to the apartment if his late father did not make a valid will. Secondly, Under the terms of the Inheritance Law of 1965 only a spouse, child or parent of the deceased who has been living with him in the family home has a right to remain there as a tenant of the heir/s to the property. Unlike these first-degree relatives, a nephew has no automatic right, but the possibility of renting out the property from the son at the market rate should be investigated.
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