Miscellaneous - עמיהוד בורוכוב, משרד עורכי דין

My boyfriend is a married man whose wife ran off abroad with her lover many years ago. She has remained overseas, refuses to divorce and now lives underground. My boyfriend is in the process of getting permission from the Rabbinical court to marry a second wife, and has proposed marriage to me. I am concerned that if I accept, I won’t have the same financial status and rights as a normal wife, because of his first wife. Are my fears founded ?

Property Rights •Miscellaneous

If the Rabbinical Court grants your boyfriend permission to take another wife, and you do indeed get married, then you need not worry about his first wife’s financial rights during your husband’s lifetime. From the moment she ran off their financial partnership ended, and she has no rights in property accrued by him from that point on. She only has property rights arising from the marriage up until the point she fled. Thus once you marry, his first wife will have no rights in anything that is accrued during your marriage. She will, however, like you , as his wife, have rights in his estate by virtue of her status , if he dies without making a will specifically excluding her. If he dies intestate, any rights due to his wife will be split between the two of you.

Which court has jurisdiction over property disputes between a man and a wife, the Druze court or the family one ?

Property Rights •Miscellaneous

If both parties agree the Druze Court can have jurisdiction but if this is not the case the family court will have jurisdiction. The concept of ‘binding’ property to the divorce plea at the Druze court, and the jurisdictional race to prevent the wife from filing for this separately at the family court , which exists with Jews , does not apply to Druze.

I have been considering divorce and when I shared my thoughts with my wife she immediately filed for ‘Shlom Bayit’ at the rabbinical court. What are the financial implications of this ?

Property Rights •Miscellaneous

Where the couple are Jewish and one of the parties has filed for ‘Shlom Bayit’ (marital reconciliation) at the rabbinical court this has negative implications for the husband financially. The ‘Shlom Bayit’ plea is designed to defer the date for the division of the couple’s property and the separation of their finances, so that it in effect enlarges the period for the wife’s claim to property.

Can a family who have been farming land for generations successfully defend action to remove them from it for being too slow to act ?

Property Rights •Miscellaneous

Yes, in principle, if they manage to prove that they have a legitimate defence relating to the ‘expiry’ of the plaintiff’s right to remove them, depending on the particular facts and circumstances.

My sister and I are competing over which of us should get my late mother’s right to a protected tenancy of a shop. If one of us ‘leaves’ it will this help the other’s case ?

Property Rights •Miscellaneous

Abandonment is a ground for losing a right to a protected tenancy when the proceedings are between the owner and the tenant. However, it does not apply regarding proceedings between tenants themselves. The Family Court has jurisdiction under the 1972 Protected Tenancy Act to rule on which family member should hold on to the protected tenancy when the principal protected tenant dies , based on actual occupancy at the time of death.

My brother and I are fighting over which of us should get our late father’s right as a protected tenant in his grocery shop. He has not filed any defence to my plea for a declaratory judgment at the family court that would name me as holding the right. Does that mean the court will regard him as giving up the fight and any claim to my late father’s right as a protected tenant ?

Property Rights •Miscellaneous

A plea for a declaratory judgment naming one brother rather than the other as gaining their late father’s right as a protected tenant will be rejected even if no defence pleadings are made if there is no legal basis to the claim. The side asking for the declaratory judgment must prove a legal basis justifying his claim. If that side alleges that the other side has given up his claim to the protected tenancy the court will only recognize that the claim has been given up by the other party if he does so in an express and very clear manner, and it is not merely implied.

My husband has business interests overseas and is currently abroad. Our marriage has lasted for over 30 years but has been under strain recently and I have noticed that he is making heavy withdrawals from our savings accounts abroad . What can I do to protect my property rights if the accounts are abroad ?

Property Rights •Miscellaneous

A wife in this situation who married before 1974 can apply for a division of marital property and within the framework of the plea apply for a special order called a Mareva Injunction to prevent her husband from making any dispositions relating to his wife’s share of their marital property. Under principles of marital partnership which apply to couples marrying before 1974, a wife is entitled to half of the couple’s property acquired during the marriage. This special order is ‘ in personam’ i.e. it is aimed at the individual even if he is abroad and would be designed to stop him performing any deeds with the wife’s share of money and rights until a court rules on the plea .

In August 2002 the Tel Aviv Family Court granted a Mareva Injunction against a husband preventing him from making dispositions regarding half of the sums in the couple’s accounts located in banks in Switzerland and Poland. The wife had applied for the order as part of her plea concerning the division of the couple’s property. The husband, who had business interests in a company in Poland, had started to use up the couple’s savings acquired during the course of their marriage and had started a relationship with a woman abroad.

I am an only child. My mother is an elderly widow. She has been living with me and my wife for several years because she could no longer live alone or manage her affairs due to a severe deterioration in her mental health. We are short of space now as our children are now growing up and need their own rooms. If both my mother and I sell our apartments we can buy a villa together with a parent’s unit. How can this be done ?

Property Rights •Miscellaneous

Where an elderly parent has reached the stage where he/she can no longer manage his/her affairs it is possible for an adult child to ask to appoint him/her as the parent’s legal guardian. He/she can only act the parent’s good and has no powers to act for his own benefit, even if his future rights from inheritance are involved. If the appointment is made then the guardian will have to apply to the court for instructions/permission to sell the parent’s property and buy part of other property.

Where the court authorizes a sale of real estate within the framework of a guardianship case, it makes sure that the rights of the person lacking legal capacity are guaranteed , particularly regarding the registration of the equivalent value of that person’s rights in any real estate purchased jointly.

My husband and have been locked in legal proceedings over property at the family court after I initiated our break-up. Out of spite he won’t let me use our car when he gets home from work. We live in a rural area and I have always used the car in the afternoons to take the children everywhere – to the doctor’s, friends, clubs etc . We bought the car a few years ago but it is registered in his name only. Can I take legal action against my husband about the use of the car ?

Property Rights •Miscellaneous

Yes ! Even though the car is registered in the husband’s name if it was purchased during the marriage it is joint property. Furthermore, if asked, it is most likely that the family court will grant a temporary decision sharing the use of the car between both spouses as the vehicle was used by the wife beforehand as part of her and the children’s way of life. It can do so before it gives a final decision regarding the couple’s marital property.

Our minor daughter is 100% disabled and permanently in a wheelchair. My husband and I wanted to buy a car so that we could take her out and applied for a tax exemption available for the disabled. As the process was extremely slow we decided to buy the car without the exemption and register it in our daughter’s name. We did so – even though we had meantime separated because of marital problems. I have custody over our daughter. My husband and I are locked in a divorce dispute . He demands half of the value of the car. Is he legally justified in doing so ?

Property Rights •Miscellaneous

Not necessarily. In an ordinary situation where a husband and wife buy something and register it in one or both of their names this property is joint. Where, however, they decide to buy something ( e.g. an apartment or car ) together and register it in the name of their child they have effectively given the minor a gift, regardless of whether the child is disabled or not. Once a gift requiring registration (such as an apartment or car) is registered in the recipient’s name by the couple then the transfer of the gift is complete – and the item is no longer part of their marital property. Neither of them can then demand or claim part of it.

If, however, one or both of the parents wants to restore their rights in the property which were transferred to the child then a plea must be made to the court and the General Guardian will be the respondent. If only one parent makes the plea and the other objects he/she is the respondent in the case. Court authorisation is required for any deeds relating to the property rights of a minor. In the circumstances described above, where the car was registered in the name of a minor child because she was disabled and it was intended to enable her to be mobile, it is almost certain that the husband’s plea will be rejected.