Court Dismisses Mother's Suit to Revoke Apartment Gift to Daughter
An Ashdod family court dismissed a mother's lawsuit demanding the return of an apartment gifted to her daughter. The judge ruled the transfer was voluntary.
A family court in Ashdod recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by a mother against one of her daughters, in which she demanded the return of half an apartment gifted to her without consideration. Judge Ofra Guy was convinced that despite the mother's later regret, she made the gift of her own free will, and no coercion, deception, or undue influence justifying its cancellation were proven.
The mother had lived in the apartment with her husband for about 20 years under public housing tenancy until 1999, when the couple purchased the rights to the property from the Amigor company under preferential conditions for about 200,000 NIS. The apartment is physically divided into two separate units but is registered in the Land Registry as a single property. Following the father's death and as part of inheritance proceedings, half of the apartment was registered in the daughter's name in 2020. In July 2021, the mother signed documents to transfer her remaining half to the daughter without consideration. By October of that year, the registration of full rights in the daughter's name was completed.
The Dispute and Court Findings
At some point, a dispute erupted between the two. In a lawsuit filed in November 2023, the mother claimed that her daughter exploited her good nature, exerted pressure, acted deceitfully, and exercised severe undue influence to rob her of her home and sole economic safety net in old age. Conversely, the daughter argued that for two decades she devotedly cared for her parents, paid the mortgage, and funded renovations, noting that the lawsuit arose only due to future urban renewal (pinui-binui) plans.
"I was impressed that the tension created in the plaintiff's relations with any of her children arose after they learned of the plaintiff's decision to grant the rights in the apartment to the defendant," wrote Judge Guy in her ruling.
The court ruled that the mother understood the meaning of the documents she signed, supported by testimony from the drafting attorney. Furthermore, since the gift transaction was completed in the registry, even unruly behavior by the recipient would not justify its cancellation. The court dismissed the lawsuit and ordered the mother to pay 35,000 NIS in legal costs and attorney fees.
