Question: 

I am getting divorced. Will I have to wait a certain period of time after I get divorced before I can change my surname back to my maiden name ? 

Answer: 

No! There is no waiting-period necessary before application can be made at the Ministry of Interior. Once the woman has her divorce or dissolution of marriage order she can go to the Ministry of Interior and request both a change in her status from ‘married’ to ‘divorced’, in her identity card, as well as to revert to her former surname.

Question: 

What options exist for registering the surname of a child if the parents are not married to each other ? 

Answer: 

The 1965 Names’ Act states that such a child will receive the mother’s surname unless: (a)she wants him to receive the surname of the father and he agrees or (b)the mother was known as the father’s “common-law” wife or (c)if both parents agree the child can have a hyphenated surname comprising both their surnames. It is important to note that because these provisions are specifically mentioned within the act itself there is no need to gain court permission and the Ministry of the Interior can register the child with one of the surnames as above.

Question: 

When I gave birth to my baby daughter I was not married to her father, who was my boyfriend. We gave her a hyphenated surname consisting of my surname and my boyfriend’s surname. My boyfriend and I are planning to get married and I will change my surname to his. If I do so, can I change my baby’s surname so that we all have the same surname ? Can I do this without much trouble ? 

Answer: 

The 1965 Names’ Act makes a provision allowing for the change of a child’s surname after one of the parents has changed their surname to that of the other parent. This can be done at the Ministry of the Interior without the need for court approval.

Question: 

If parents are married what surname can they give their child when he/she is born ?

Answer: 

Usually married couples have the same surname, that of the husband,and most parents give their child the same surname, that of the husband, too, so that all the family members have the same surname. Other options exist if the wife has not changed her surname to that of her husband. The newborn can be registered under the mother’s surname or, if both parents agree, it can have a surname comprising both parents’ surnames. These options can be registered at the interior ministry without need for court permission.

Question: 

I have recently become a father. I am not married to the mother . We are both single. We live separately and she has custody of the child. She got pregnant accidentally while having a casual relationship with me. While I am not interested in having a serious relationship with her, I would like to develop a close relationship with my son and would like to add my surname to his to give him a greater feeling of identity and belonging as he grows up. At the moment he has the same surname as his mother. Do I have any legal right, as his father, to have my surname added to his ? 

Answer:

Yes, the Jerusalem Family Court has held that despite what is said in the Names’ Act about a child’s surname when the parents are not married to one another, a father has a right to ask for his surname to be added to the mother’s surname so that their child has a compound surname made up of both his/her parents’ surnames. The principles of parental equality and the child’s good lie behind this, it said. However, where the mother is single, the father’s surname will be added after the mother’s surname which will remain in ‘first’ place.

Question : 

I am a new immigrant . I am about to have a baby and am deciding on names. Where I come from it is common for a person to have a long name, for example , have two or more first names and even a double-barrelled surname made up of the family names of both parents. Is that possible in Israel ? 

Answer: 

Yes – you can give your baby more than one first name and a double-barrelled surname. The 1956 Names’ Act states that a person must have both a first name ('christian' /forename) and a surname (family name). It also states that a person can have a double-barrelled surname and more than one first name, if both parents agree. 

Question: 

Is it possible to change the surname of a minor child, who was born outside wedlock, to his mother’s new surname following her marriage to another man, without the consent of the biological father ? 

Answer: 

No ! Without the father’s consent and without court approval, it is impossible to change the minor’s child’s name to that of his mother’s new surname upon marriage to someone who is not his biological father. It is doubtful that the biological father would agree and, even if he did, it is unlikely that the court would accept the request to change the name.

Question: 

Can a child’s surname be changed because of his parents divorce ?

Answer:

Yes, but only if both parents agree and there is court approval for the change.

Question: 

Can a widow with a baby or young child , who remarries, get permission for his surname to be changed to that of her second husband ? 

Answer: 

Much depends on the particular circumstances, and whether the family court deciding on the matter considers that the change would be in the child’s good or not. Where the child is of sufficient age and maturity for his views to be taken into account (from the age of 10), the court will most likely want to her his/her wishes.

In January 2004 Haifa Family Court refused an application made by a mother and her new husband to change the name of her child, now aged 11, to that of hers following her remarriage….. because the child’s views on the matter should be known, and this was not possible as the applicants had never told him that his step-father was not his biological father. The child was born in the Ukraine, from where he and the mother had emigrated. The child’s father had died when he was a year and a half, and the mother had remarried and given birth to a child with her second husband. The boy regarded the wife’s second husband as his father, having known him from the age of 2, although he had not been adopted by him. The applicants said they filed the application after the boy seemed puzzled as to why his name was different from theirs and that of his sibling.

In a report presented to court it was stated that the applicants had no intention of disclosing the ‘secret’ about his father’s true identity, as they feared it would result in him no longer accepting his step-father. The Attorney General’s representative stated that it was in the child’s good to know that the step-father was not his biological father, and that his views on the issue of changing his name could only be given after he knew the background.

The judgment said: “ I say that the applicants are looking after their own interests and mainly the interest of the second applicant,the step-father, and not actually the interests of the child….The applicants will do well if they get the assistance of professional people from the field of psychology who will explain the minor’s history to him and will let him form his opinion about his wishes in connection with the surname he shall bear at least until he reaches maturity.”

Question: 

What happens if someone’s full date of birth is not known and he/she needs to register his/her age ? 

Answer: 

According to the Legal Capacity & Guardianship Law of 1962 where the year in which a person was born is known, but not the month, it is assumed that he/she was born on the first day of the Hebrew month of Nissan of that year. If both the year and month are known, but not the day of the month, then there is an assumption that he/she was born on the 15th of that particular month.

Question: 

Where should a plea be filed concerning the alteration of a person’s registered age?

Answer:

A plea concerning the alteration of a person’s registered age should be made at the family court serving the area in which he/she lives. If the person does not have a place of residence in Israel then the plea should be filed at the Tel Aviv family court. 

Question: 

Can a deceased person’s family get his age corrected after his death so that they and his estate can be eligible for certain benefits? 

Answer: 

No! Tel Aviv Family Court ruled in May 2002 that an application to alter a person’s age can only be made during his life-time. In the above case the deceased’s heirs wanted to apply for a change in his age so as to be eligible for a benefit in his life insurance policy for disabled people who retired before they are 60. Although nothing specific was said in the Determination of Age Act ruling out posthumous applications, the court held that a person’s status cannot be altered after their death on policy grounds. Where an intention exists otherwise this is stated specifically in legislation. Furthermore, heirs or dependants’ claims regarding a policy taken out by a worker were under the exclusive jurisdiction of The District Labour Court, it said.

Question: 

I came to Israel as an illegal immigrant during the Holocaust, shortly before the State was founded. I was a teenager. I lost my close family but some of my more distant relatives made it to Israel . I am sure I of pensionable age and should qualify to receive a pension, but my identity card records me as being younger than I really am . As a boy, I was short for my age because of malnutrition and was arbitrarily listed as being 8 when I arrived in Israel – although I was really 11. How can I prove that I am of pensionable age ? 

Answer:

A person who claims that their real age is different from the one recorded on their identity card can apply to the family court for it to be changed under the 1963 Determination of Age Law.

Case law has fleshed out the provisions of the legislation and the person wishing to change their recorded age has to prove two things – firstly, that the age listed at the Ministry of Interior is incorrect and, secondly, what their real age is.

As regards types of admissible evidence,  affidavits or testimony of living relatives, neighbours or elder siblings who were present at the birth or who have personal knowledge concerning the applicant’s age, are acceptable. Certificates and other documentation can also be used. The act itself says the court may digress from the laws of evidence if it regards this as necessary to reach the true age of the applicant, if it records the reasons for this.

Question: 

Is documentary evidence better than personal testimony when someone is trying to get their official age altered on records ? 

Answer: 

Both documentary evidence and personal testimony are acceptable, but the former can bear more weight, especially when the testimony is given by relatives who are not impartial, and the person concerned could be eligible for old age benefits if the court is persuaded that he/she is older than the records show. 

This was illustrated in an appeal case heard by Jerusalem District Court under the Amendment of Age Act. The appellant, who was born in a village around Jerusalem and became a refugee in 1948, appealed against the decision of the family court not to alter her year of birth from 1942 to 1938, which would make her eligible for old age benefits from the respondent, the National Insurance Institute. 

Various documentary evidence was produced by the appellant, including a birth certificate issued by the authorities of the British Mandate which ruled Palestine at the time, a Jordanian marriage certificate and one issued later in Nablus by the Shar'ai (Moslem religious) court. All recorded her year of birth as 1938 and were checked by an expert who verified their authenticity. Although the date in her Jordanian marriage certificate had been altered from 1936 to 1938 , the court was satisfied from the evidence and expert opinion provided that this was a genuine mistake corrected at the time. Testimony from the appellant and her sister was simple, clear and credible,the court held. 

Allowing the appeal, the court said the evidence was clear and convincing, and it disagreed with the conclusions of the family court which it overruled. Furthermore, the appeal court accepted the appellant’s explanation that for not noticing or objecting earlier to the ‘mistake’ in the registration of her birth date in her Israeli Identity Card. She said she was illiterate and only discovered the error when she applied for old age benefits at the National Insurance Institute where she was told that according to her identity card she was too young to be eligible.

Question: 

How strict are courts about inconsistencies or contradictions in evidence given by someone trying to prove his real age ? 

Answer: 

Extremely strict, especially as many applications for changes in age bring with them eligibility for pensions. An example of nuances of courts’ strict attitude towards inconsistency in evidence can be seen by reference to a decision by Kfar Saba Family Court in August 2004. In it the applicant, who managed to prove that he was not born in 1959, as registered, could not prove to the satisfaction of the court that he was born in 1948. 

Quoting the applicant, the court said: “ 'My father did not say what year I was born in. He only said that I was born in the year in which the state of Israel was founded.' That admission brings down the main claim, on which his application about his correct age is based. The admission of the applicant even stands in complete contradiction with what was claimed by him in his affidavit, and further belief cannot be given in his claims about the exact date of his birth, according to the Gregorian calendar, apparently given to him by his father.' 

In his affidavit, the plaintiff claimed that his father had always told him he was born on 13.3.48. On cross-examination he was asked if his father had told him he was born in 1948, and he answered “ Yes. On 13.3.48.” 

Only when he was questioned about the differences between the Ethiopian and Gregorian calendars, did the applicant correct himself in court, and qualify his answer to refer indirectly to 1948 , the year in which Israel was founded.

Question: 

Can objective medical evidence be used to support an applicant’s plea for a change in registration of age at the Ministry of Interior ? 

Answer: 

Yes, in August 2004 fact Kfar Saba Family Court suggested that a person trying to prove he was 11 years older than Ministry of Interior records stated, should undergo medical tests to prove his point. It accepted evidence provided by the applicant that a mistake had been made in the registration of his birth at the Ministry of Interior. However, it said the evidence presented by the applicant, an Ethiopian Immigrant, was insufficient to prove that he had really been born in 1948, as he claimed, and not in 1959, as registered. The court accepted that in an attempt to flee Ethiopia and emigrate to Israel, that he had bought an identity card of someone else from an individual posing as a representative of the Israeli embassy in Ethiopia. He claimed that at the embassy he had been told that they would change the registration, but did so only regarding his name, but not his age. 

It gave him 120 days to produce external, independent , medical evidence at to his age. If he did not submit a professional opinion of a medical expert on the matter, his plea would be struck out, it said.

 “ When one is talking about such a substantial gap in age, it is likely that the correct age of the applicant could be obtained by an objective medical test,” it said.

Question: 

How difficult is it for a middle-aged or older person who believes their recorded age is wrong to get it altered ?

Answer: 

Difficult, as shown by the judgment of Haifa District Court when in January 2001 it accepted an appeal by the National Insurance Institute against a Family Court decision which had ruled that the plaintiff/respondent was born in 1928 and not 1939. ‘Alteration of age can have considerable financial advantages, the addition of years to the age of an adult can give him old age benefits from the National Insurance Institute for all those years, and even pension rights’, the judgment held, saying that caution should be exercised in accepting pleas to make people in later life ‘older’. 

As a rule appeal courts are reluctant to interfere in the findings of the first-level court, the court held. However, where the conclusions an appeal court draws from the evidence are, as in this case, given by relatives , it must be on its guard, it said. The testimony provided by the uncle and cousin was too vague and weak, and full of ‘surprises’ and illogicalities , the court held, ordering the age of the respondent to be changed back again.

Question: 

If someone has disappeared how long is it before he or she can be declared dead ? 

Answer: 

According to the 1978 Declaration of Death Act a person who does not perish in a disaster or in the Holocaust, but just disappears, can be declared dead by the family court after seven years, providing that all efforts to trace him/her have failed and that,in the circumstances, there are grounds for believing that he/she is dead. 

Question:

How strict is the family court about accepting evidence to prove that someone has died in proceedings for a declaration of death ? 

Answer: 

According to the 1978 Declaration of Death Act a court can digress from the rules of evidence when dealing with an application for a declaration of death, or a plea to amend or cancel one, if it is sure that the circumstances of the case justify it.  The court must, however, state its reasons for doing so when it gives its judgment.

Question: 

What are the chances of getting a family member declared dead if he disappeared, leaving a depressing letter saying that he intended to end his life, and all efforts to find him have failed ? 

Answer: 

If he disappeared less than seven years ago, the chances are not good, because of the difficulty of getting the family court to recognize ‘suicide’ as a form of accident under the 1978 Declaration of Death Act and because of the difficulty of meeting the standard of proof required. 

In February 2004 Haifa Family Court refused an application by a woman and her daughter to declare the husband/father dead. He had disappeared two and a half years previously and they suspected suicide .The applicants travelled to Russia to visit the woman’s parents and when they returned he had vanished, leaving three cassette recordings in which he declared his intention to commit suicide. The police were informed of his disappearance, and an announcement appeared in the press but there was no trace of him. 

Question: 

I am a new immigrant from Russia. My husband went back there to visit family. He has never returned. He disappeared the same day the city in which his family live was struck by a terrorist blast. His body has not been found. His family say he called them shortly before the explosion to let them know he would be late because he wanted to stay in the city centre a little longer. At first I denied reality and hoped and prayed he was still alive. Now I am realistic and feel I must get on with my life. What legal steps should I take ? 

Answer: 

It is possible to apply to the family court for a declaration of death. The 1978 Declaration of Death Act regulates the process. Under it, the family court has jurisdiction and discretion to declare someone dead, subject to certain conditions been fulfilled. The act deals with several categories of people. One of them is ‘perished’ – that is someone of whom there has been no trace of for at least two years, where there is a basis for assuming that he died following an incident of war, natural disaster or accident. As long as the person lived in Israel a declaration can be given even if he is believed to have died abroad.