Knowledge Base

Cohabitation

Home / I have been living with a man for many years now. His wife refuses to divorce him .They have grown up children . He has not made a will. Would I be entitled to inherit if he dies ?

I have been living with a man for many years now. His wife refuses to divorce him .They have grown up children . He has not made a will. Would I be entitled to inherit if he dies ?

By: דיאנה שאלתיאלPublished on: 27 June, 2022

As long as a man who has left home to cohabit with another woman remains legally married to his wife , and has not made a will, she, and not the woman he lives with, will inherit his property, according to the terms of the 1965 Inheritance Law . His children will also be his heirs, again according to the terms of the 1965 Inheritance Law. This legislation contains a condition concerning the eligibility of a cohabitee to have rights to a deceased cohabitee’s estate as a common-law spouse -neither of them can be married to anyone else at the time the deceased passes away. In your  case, your “man” is married which would prevent you, as his cohabite,  from inheriting as his common-law wife,  if he died.


* We hope you find our website useful and easy to use. Please note, however, that the information provided on it is not a substitute for personal legal counselling which is available upon payment.

Skip to content