Minors - עמיהוד בורוכוב, משרד עורכי דין

How is maintenance calculated for children living in the city with their mother if their father is a member of a kibbutz?

Maintenance / Child Support •Minors

A number of principles have been developed in the courts to calculate how much child maintenance a father living on a kibbutz should pay for his children if they live outside the kibbutz with their mother.

They are :

(a)The father’s financial capability to pay should be based on what he would earn if he worked outside the kibbutz rather than hiding behind the cloak of the kibbutz .

(b)The children’s standard of living should not be inferior to that of the father.

(c)The standard of living that the father owes if his (ex)spouse left the kibbutz for a justified reason should be equal to what she and the children would have had if they had remained on the kibbutz – but no more.

(d)The differences in standards of living between rich and poor kibbutzim should be taken into account

(e)The father could be expected to have more than one job, just like a father of several children who lived in the city, in order to support them.

I am an immigrant from the former U.S.S.R. and have no religion. My wife is Jewish. We have a son and she has a daughter from her first marriage . Our marriage has broken down. The children stayed with her when we separated. I have just received a plea for child maintenance for both children. Do I have to pay maintenance for my wife’s daughter ? The child’s father is alive; he is probably in the U.S.S.R., but has not made contact with his daughter for some time and my wife doesn’t know where he lives now.

Maintenance / Child Support •Minors

A parent’s maintenance obligation regarding minor children is based on his/her personal, religious law. Where a person has no religious law – as in the case of someone without a religion – or the personal law does not apply, then civil legislation applies. The Family Law (Maintenance) Amendment Act of 1959 states that a married person is liable for the maintenance of his minor children and those of his spouse. However, where the biological father of the spouse’s child is alive, maintenance must be filed against him first. Only when this is done and the biological father cannot support the child at all then can a maintenance plea be filed against the child’s mother’s spouse.

My wife has threatened to file for divorce and for maintenance for her three children, one of whom is from her first husband who is deceased. I am an immigrant from Russia, with no recorded religion. My wife is Jewish. Will I have to pay maintenance for the child from her first marriage?

Maintenance / Child Support •Minors

Yes, as you have no religion, under Israeli law you are not subject to any personal law, and your maintenance obligation is governed by the Family Law Amendment (Maintenance) Act of 1959. Under the act you have to bear the maintenance burden for your children and those of your spouse – even though you are not the biological parent. This obligation is shared by the two of you, depending on your relative incomes.

To what age are children entitled to be supported by their fathers in Israel where both parents are Moslem, and they will not serve in the Israeli army ?

Maintenance / Child Support •Above 18 Years

Until the age of 18, in principle. What applies to children who do compulsory army service, and who can get up to a 1/3 of the maintenance they were entitled to as minors, from the age of 18-21, does not apply here to Moslems ,who are exempt from army service.

s there any link between a father’s earnings and the level of maintenance he is obliged to pay his minor children if all of them are Moslems , and their mother is/was married to him?

Maintenance / Child Support •Minors

Yes ! The level of maintenance he is obliged to pay is linked not only to his actual earnings, but also to his earning potential, and of course, their needs. This was pointed out in proceedings between a separated Moslem married couple at Nazareth Family Court in May 2006.

I have heard that a married Moslem woman can now file her Moslem husband for child maintenance at the family court, instead of the Sha’ari court. If she does, by which law will the court decide on the issue?

Maintenance / Child Support •Minors

Providing the Moslem couple are married in the eyes of Islamic law, then the personal law relating to Moslems will apply, even though the case will be heard in a civil court, the family one. If however, the Moslem mother is not married, then the man’s obligation, once paternity is proved, will be based on Israeli civil law . This is because Islamic law only recognizes paternity within Moslem religious marriage and according to the 1959 Family Law Amendment (Maintenance) Act, where a father is not obliged to pay maintenance according to his personal law, or where personal law does not apply, he will be liable to pay child support according to the act. Under this, both parents will be equally responsible for supporting the child, based on their relative incomes.

Can a Jewish husband who has custody of his minor child get maintenance for him from his wife, the child’s mother?

Maintenance / Child Support •Minors

The question of whether a Jewish father with custody of a minor child can get maintenance for him paid by the mother depends on whether she is Jewish or not and upon the minor’s age.

This is because his maintenance obligation depends on his personal law, Jewish religious law. If his wife is not Jewish their child is not Jewish, and his maintenance obligation will be covered by civil law as Jewish religious law will not oblige him to support the minor.

If the wife/mother is Jewish then the father is not entitled to file the mother for maintenance if the child is under 15 because the burden of supporting the minor falls solely on the father until that age. From 15 onwards, both parents are responsible for supporting the child, depending on their relative incomes.

Alternatively, if the wife/mother is non-Jewish the father may be entitled to get some maintenance for the child as civil law –the Family Law (Maintenance) Amendment Act of 1959- shares the burden between both parents, depending on their relative incomes, irrespective of the minor’s age.

Does a Jewish father who studies at Yeshiva and does not work have to support his children?

Maintenance / Child Support •Minors

Yes. Studying at Yeshiva does not free a father of his maintenance obligation to his minor children under Jewish law, and nor does an agreement made in which the father-in-law undertakes to support the family so that the son-in-law can devote himself to religious study . While Jewish learning is an important value it takes second place to a Jewish father’s duty to support his children.

My wife and I have separated. Our 3 year old child lives with her. My wife says I am legally bound to support our son but I said it is ridiculous as has his own income from a trust fund his maternal grandfather made for him. My wife and I are Jewish. Do I have to pay child maintenance?

Maintenance / Child Support •Minors

A Jewish father’s maintenance obligation is based on Jewish religious law which has been adopted by civil legislation, the Family Law Amendment (Maintenance) Act of 1959. Up until a minor is 6 the father’s maintenance obligation is absolute in Jewish law, so your 3 year old’s own income from a trust fund would not alter your maintenance obligation at this stage ,but between the ages of 6-15 it will be taken into account.

My wife and I are very comfortably off and want for nothing. We have just one child, aged 12. My wife’s mother passed away a few years ago, leaving our daughter, her only grandchild, a substantial amount of real estate, including an apartment block and shops which are rented out. My wife and I do not get along and have decided to divorce. I agree that she should have custody over our daughter though I disagree with her about the level of child maintenance she has suggested, due to the monthly income received from rental of the real estate. Could I still have to pay child maintenance for my daughter even though her own income exceeds my monthly salary?! We are all Jewish.

Maintenance / Child Support •Minors

A Jewish father is obliged to support his minor child/ren born to a Jewish mother according to Jewish law. Until the child is aged six, a Jewish’s father’s maintenance obligation to his child is absolute – he still has to support him regardless of whether the child has his own income.

From the age of 6-15 the obligation is ‘semi-absolute’ . If the child has no independent income then the father’s maintenance obligation will still be absolute – the entire burden will fall on his shoulder’s alone. If, however, the child has his own independent source of income – e.,g. through inheritance or a trust fund then this will be taken into account. If a child maintenance plea is filed and it is established that the child’s income is greater than his needs, then almost certainly the father will be exempt from supporting him, or will only have to pay very low child maintenance. If, however, the child’s needs are shown to be greater than his income, then the father will be obliged to pay the difference.