Want to issue a will and get your share as deserved?
What is a will ?
A will is a written statement that constitutes a legal document in which a person instructs what to do with his fortune and property after his death. This is the surest way a person can take care of the division of his property according to his will. The central idea in this will is that the division of property will be done according to the will of the testator, and it does not necessarily have to be done in a way that is considered as normative as the division of property to his natural heirs or descendants or his flesh but only according to what is right for him.
In order for this legal document to be valid, it must be approved by the Registrar of Inheritance or the Rabbinical Court by means of an order for the execution of a will.
The Inheritance Act recognizes four different types of wills
A handwritten will of the testator, a will before witnesses, a will before an authority (such as a judge / registrar for matters of inheritance / member of the rabbinical court, etc.) and an oral will (a possibility that exists only in special situations where the testator is on the verge of death). Each case of a will has its own components and legality. A person can leave behind a number of wills, but the latest will is the determinant one.
Application for a will
In order to exercise your share in the deceased’s property, and to fulfill the will, an application must be submitted for a will execution order. In one of the offices of the Registrar of Inheritance, and after approving the wording of the will, he gives it the force of a judgment. The application can be submitted by the heirs registered in the will (or part of them), and in some cases anyone interested in issuing the order. It is advisable to enlist the help of a family and divorce lawyer in order to submit the application for a will in an orderly and accurate manner.
The following documents must be attached to the application:
- An original will if it was previously deposited with the Registrar of Inheritance.
- An original will obtained by the applicant.
- Certificate of death of the testator.
- If there are heirs who have chosen to give up their share in the estate, then their affidavits of departure must be attached.
- Copy of a notice sent by registered mail to other heirs / winners according to the will or an affidavit of delivery of a notice to the heirs.
The fee for opening an application for the an inheritance order currently stands at NIS 496, which can be paid online on the website of the Registrar for Inheritance Matters of the Ministry of Justice. These amounts are updated from time to time on the website. The issuance of the order requires the attachment of the payment vouchers.
A deceased person who was a resident of Israel must submit additional documents such as: a real estate registration in the deceased’s name and / or a bank account in the deceased’s name or other assets owned by him and associated with the place of jurisdiction of the Registrar of Inheritance to which the application was submitted. And an opinion of the foreign law or one prepared by a legal expert in foreign law.
Handling the application
After filing the application, information about the application and the name of the testator will be published in a daily newspaper and in the appropriate records, in order to allow objections to the will, if any. If no objection is filed, the application is forwarded to the Custodian General.
In order for him to respond with one of the following options:
- Approval of the application.
- Return of the application to the applicant to complete missing details or provide clarifications.
- Transfer of the case to a court.
In cases where there is an objection to the will, further discussions will be heard in the Family Court. After the deadlines for filing the objections have passed, and after receiving the response of the Custodian General, the Registrar of Inheritance shall issue an order confirming the validity of the will. Currently, this order is issued and signed digitally (unlike in the past). This order is passed on to the applicant, and in addition automatically to banks, insurance companies and government bodies (such as the Tabu, the Israel Lands Administration, the Ministry of Transportation, etc.) to prevent situations of forgery.
