Explore Israeli Law; Explore Its Terms.
How to Probate A will or Administer an Estate in Israel
Under Israeli law, succession according to Law In the absence of a will the heirs can be relatives of the deceased. The Succession Law defines the order of legal succession. The deceased's estate passes to the Administrator General in the Ministry of Justice when the deceased has no heirs.
What is succession?
According to the succession Law if the deceased leaves a will, his property passes to the heir in accordance with the Succession Law. Succession occurs in accordance with the Will. The heirs are the persons, bodies and legal entities appearing in the Will.
Succession under a will - the succession is called Lawful Inheritance by Will. The heir is called the lawful heir under the will, and the estate is distributed as set out in the will. If there are no heirs, the estate passes to the Administrator General or to the State. If the estate of the deceased passes by law to the relatives of the deceased according to the estate of the deceased. If he had no lawful relatives to succeed him to whom his estate will be distributed. according to local jurisdiction, an application may be submitted to the Succession Cases Registrar at the Ministry of Justice for a Succession Order or to the Rabbinical Courts.
Provident Funds and Life Insurance: These are not considered for distribution from the estate of the deceased, and the beneficiary appearing in the records will automatically inherit them. Any other case must be expressly stated in the body of the will.
Who can inherit without a will?
The system of succession in Israel is based on blood relationships between parents and children, and according to which the heirs of the deceased are his closest relatives - spouses (the nearest relative that is not a blood relative) parents, offspring or other relatives according to the order of succession.
According to the Israeli Succession laws you can inherent in two ways
Through a will
By law.
If the deceased has had a will, the Israeli court will adhere to the will as long as the court finds the will valid.
If the deceased died without a will e.g. intestate, the law becomes complicated and hard to understand and you would need an Israeli law support in New York. it requires a detailed knowledge of the Israeli laws, and there are many scenarios that each of them by law gives different percentage to each beneficiary or to the heirs according to their relationship with the deceased as stipulated according to the order of the Israeli inheritance. These are:
The deceased’s living spouse OR common law wife is entitled to get 50% of any real estate situated in Israel and 100% of the deceased’s personal property.
The deceased’s offspring(s), including illegitimate and adopted children and their offspring will get 50% of any real estate of the Israeli Estate but 0% of non-real estate. (Bank accounts, motor vehicle, pension, etc.).
If the deceased had no children then to the deceased’s parents, grandparents, and their offspring.
In the absence of any of the above beneficiaries, then the State of Israel inherits The spouse will inherit the entire estate only if the deceased has no children, siblings, or parents. Otherwise, the spouse is entitled to half the estate if the deceased is survived by children or parents, and to two thirds of the estate if the deceased had no children but is survived by grandparents, siblings, or other relatives.
If the deceased has no heirs in the ranking referred to in the Law - his estate passes to the State, which is represented by the Administrator General in the Ministry of Justice.
You may need to hire a New York Israeli attorney to deal with the complexities of Israeli Inheritance Laws.
Many potential clients google the key words “lawyer near me” in order to resolve their legal issues. However, when it comes to Israeli law support in New York or litigation for Israeli clients, our law firm has aggregate experience of over 50 years. The Law Offices of David Shakarchi, will provide you with legal aid in New York for litigation for Israeli related issues like succession and inheritance claims.
You may need an Israeli lawyer for dealing with Inheritance laws in Israel. At the Law Offices of David Shakarchi, provides you with licensed New York lawyers and provide Israeli law support in New York; we try our best that the new York Israeli lawyer costs are reasonable. we offer free legal advice for the above and the following issues.
Order of heirs
In the absence of a will, the first right of inheritance is divided equally between the spouse of the deceased and his children. The spouse receives one-half of the inheritance and the children divide the remaining half to the children in equal shares. In addition, the spouse is entitled also to inherit the goods and chattels and motor vehicles of the deceased, if any. A widow may also be entitled to receive from the estate, Marriage Contract (Ketubah) payment under certain circumstances, she can also demand maintenance from the estate.
Common Law spouses: Under Section 55 of the Succession Law, in the absence of a will, the right of succession of a common law husband or wife of the deceased is equal to that of a married couple but only if the common law husband or wife are not married to other parties, and the surviving partner has the burden of proof that he/she and the deceased were common law husband or wife, and maintained a joint household.
If The estate of a deceased has a living spouse but did not have children, then the estate is divided equally between the spouse and the parents of the deceased or his brothers and sisters. The spouse receives 2/3 and the siblings receive 1/3 between them.
The spouse only inherits the whole of the estate if the deceased did not leave children, siblings, or parents.
Parents of the deceased, his brothers and sisters share the whole of the estate only where the deceased did have a spouse and had no children.
If the estate of a deceased has children but did not have a spouse, then the estate is divided equally between his/her children. Even if his children are not alive, the estate is divided between the grandchildren of the deceased per stripes. If any of the children of the deceased has died before him that deceased child's share passes to the grandchildren of the deceased per stripes. If any of the heirs of the deceased has died after him - his share passes to his heirs under a Succession Order/Will Probate Order.
The estate of a deceased who had no children and did not leave a spouse, parents, or siblings, is divided equally between the grandparents of the deceased and their offspring.
How to Proceed:
The following is a nutshell of the Israeli law requirements to probate/administer an estate
A form of application for a Succession Order signed by the applicant, who has an interest in the estate either as an heir, Estate Administrator, creditor of one of the heirs, who makes a declaration to that effect which is authenticated by a lawyer, a notary, a judge, a religious court judge or the Head of the Local Authority.
Original death certificate or a true copy of the original.
Notifications to all the heirs of submission of the application, with the approval and signature of all the heirs or with the inclusion of a certificate of having sent the notification by registered mail.
An original Power of Attorney or a true copy of the original must also be enclosed with an application that is submitted by a lawyer on behalf of the applicants.
At the Law Offices of David Shakarchi, we have licensed Israeli lawyers who can provide you with Israeli law support in New York.
A USA law practice will not be able to represent you in Israel, if you need Israeli law support in new York, you will need to hire a New York Israeli lawyer with offices in Israel; a law firm which is experienced in Israeli inheritance laws. The Law Offices of David Shakarchi is now offering virtual & in-person free Israeli law consultation