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Property Rights

Property Rights

Inheritance

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I have been living with a man for many years as if we were man and wife although we did not actually get married. He has a terminal illness. He has no children, only a brother and sister . If he passes away who will be entitled to his life insurance policy ?

Property Rights Inheritance

Basically, the person/s named on the policy will be entitled to it, if there are person/s named. If nothing specific is stated, then the policy holder’s heirs will be entitled to it, according to the terms of the Inheritance Law of 1965. Thus if the deceased’s ‘cohabitee’ proves her status, then she will be entitled to 2/3 and the brother and sister the remaining 1/3 between them.

How strict are the National Insurance requirements about non-married couples having to live together for one to qualify as a surviving spouse after the other’s death ?

Property Rights Inheritance

While generally the National Insurance Institute requires that the surviving party should actually live with the deceased to qualify for surviving spouse benefits, in exceptional circumstances he/she may be entitled to financial support, even without this, if it can be proved by other means that he/she was regarded as the common-law spouse.

Does Israeli inheritance law discriminate against single-sex couples or can they inherit just like heterosexual couples who cohabit but are not married ?

Property Rights Inheritance

Despite a slow trend recognizing the legal rights of single sex couples , they were discriminated against regarding Inheritance. Courts interpreted the 1965 Inheritance Law regarding the rights of non-married cohabiting couples very strictly; they only applied to a couple comprising a man and a woman. Surviving partners in a Homosexual or Lesbian relationship had no inheritance rights under the act. However,a revolutionary judgment made by Nazareth District Court in November 2004 may mark the beginning of the gradual recognition of the rights of cohabitees in single-sexed relationships to inherit.

Does the surviving partner in a common-law relationship have to get legal recognition of his/her status before being able to inherit part of the deceased partner’s estate ?

Property Rights Inheritance

Yes ! Even if it is plain to everybody, the surviving cohabitee will still have to prove his/her status, according to the criteria set in the Inheritance Law of 1965. In other words, he/she must prove that they ran a common household, without being married to one another, and without either of them being married to anyone else. Married spouses, in contrast, do not need to get a court declaration of their status in order to inherit – proof of marriage itself  is sufficient.

Does a common-law partner or unmarried partner have inheritance rights under Israeli law ?

Property Rights Inheritance

Yes, the Inheritance Act of 1965 gives common-law partners or cohabitees who meet certain preconditions equal rights to those of married spouses. If the common-law partners or cohabitees  were living together in a joint household, at the time the deceased died, and neither of them was married to someone else when one of them dies, then the one who survives is to receive the share he/she would have received if they had been married to one another.

How can an apartment acquired through inheritance be registered properly ?

Property Rights Inheritance

An application can be made to register the inheritance at the Lands Registry Office (‘Tabu’). In order to do this one must have first obtained an order enforcing the distribution of the estate according to a will or the Inheritance Law, or an order permitting the management of the estate, made by the family court, religious court or Inheritance Registrar. In addition, one will need documentation relating to the current registration of the apartment.

My ex- husband died recently. Our mutual children were listed as beneficiaries under a life insurance policy he had. As they are minors, who will be responsible for managing the money they receive ?

Property Rights Inheritance

The surviving parent – the mother – is the natural guardian with responsibility for the minors’ property under the 1962 Legal Capacity and Guardianship Act for the minor’s property, providing that the deceased father did not instruct otherwise and name another person as being responsible for the management of the minors’ property.

Under the act, a parent, as natural guardian, must protect the value of property owned by a minor, and manage it in the latter’s interests. Certain ways of investing the money would require court approval – e.g. purchasing real estate in their name. The surviving parent can always ask the family court for instructions .

 

My husband and I have been living separately for nearly a year but have not yet decided about divorce . He has just taken early retirement because of heart problems. If he dies will I be entitled to inherit as his wife even though we live separately ?

Property Rights Inheritance

As long as a woman remains officially married to her husband she is entitled to inherit as a wife according to the Inheritance Act even if she is separated from him or even in the process of divorce. This is clearly based on the assumption that he has not made a will, the specific provisions of which will override her inheritance rights if it is valid and probate granted.

Upon divorce does an apartment inherited by one of the parties during the marriage and which is registered in his/her name only remain their exclusive property – or does the other party have a rightful claim to it ?

Property Rights Inheritance

Property received by way of inheritance is an exception to the general rule that property required during the course of the marriage is joint. The party that inherited it would retain exclusive ownership and the other party would have no right to it upon divorce.

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