An estate of 3 million shekels and no will: who gets what in every family scenario

A person passes away and leaves an apartment, savings, and a car, without a single written line about what should be done with them. This is a common situation in Israel: most people do not make a will, and the Inheritance Law fills the gap for them. An entire chapter of the law determines who inherits, in what order, and in what portions. This mechanism, inheritance by law, applies to any estate for which there is no valid will. An estate is all the property, funds, and rights that a person leaves behind at their death.

Three circles and one rule

The law organizes the family into three circles: the deceased's children and their descendants; their parents and their descendants (siblings and nephews); and their parents' parents and their descendants (grandparents, uncles, and cousins). A living heir in a closer circle completely blocks the circles further away from them. Within each circle, the parent takes precedence over their descendants: a living child of the deceased blocks their own children, and a grandchild inherits only when their parent, the child of the deceased, has passed away before them. This point surprises many families, who are sure that grandchildren inherit from the grandfather alongside the children. The timing of birth also determines: a descendant born up to 300 days after the death is considered a full heir. An adopted child is equal to a biological child, and there is no difference between sons and daughters or between a child born within marriage and a child born outside of it.

The spouse: the chattels, the car, and then the distribution

Whoever was married to the deceased on the day of death receives, even before the distribution of the estate, the chattels of the joint household - furniture, electrical appliances, and kitchenware - and the family car. On the rest of the estate, rates apply that depend on the identity of the other heirs: against children, grandchildren, or parents of the deceased, the spouse inherits half; against siblings, nephews, or grandparents only, two-thirds; and in the absence of any relative from these circles, everything.

To the two-thirds rule, a significant benefit is attached: a couple that was married for at least three years and lived together in an apartment included in the estate, the remaining spouse receives the full share of the deceased in the apartment, and the distribution of two-thirds and one-third applies only to the remainder. Common-law partners who managed a joint household inherit exactly like married ones, on one condition: neither of the partners is married to another person at the time of death.

An estate of 3 million shekels: four scenarios

1. A widow and three children: the widow receives 1.5 million shekels and the contents of the house and the vehicle, and each child receives 500 thousand shekels.

2. A widow, a living son, and a granddaughter whose mother passed away before the deceased: the widow receives 1.5 million shekels, the son 750 thousand, and the granddaughter steps into the shoes of her late mother and receives the 750 thousand that would have been due to her. The children of the living son receive zero, because their father blocks them.

3. A widower without children and without parents, with a sister and a grandfather: the widower inherits two-thirds, 2 million shekels, and the sister and the grandfather divide equally the remaining million, 500 thousand each. If the couple was married for three years or more and lived in the deceased's apartment, the widower takes first the full share of the deceased in the apartment, and only the remainder is divided two-thirds to him and one-third to them.

4. There is no spouse and no relative up to the circle of grandparents and their descendants: the estate passes to the management of the General Guardian in the Ministry of Justice, is kept there for years in case an heir is discovered, and only after the period set by law does it pass to the state. The 3 million shekels do not evaporate, but no neighbor, friend, or non-profit organization will see a shekel of them without a will.

Parents versus siblings

In the absence of a spouse and children, the parents inherit everything in equal parts. A sibling enters the picture only in the shoes of a parent who has passed away: when the father of the deceased is alive and the mother is not, the father receives half, and the children of the mother, the siblings of the deceased, divide her half. The principle is the same as that of the grandchildren: each family branch keeps its share, and the share flows down the branch. A widow who married according to the law of Moses and Israel is entitled to collect from the estate also the Ketubah money and the Ketubah addition, alongside her share in the inheritance.

From right to money

The order of inheritance determines the right, but the realization requires an official document: an inheritance order from the Registrar of Inheritance Affairs, which declares who the heirs are and what their shares are. Without the order, the bank and the Land Registry (Tabu) continue to treat the assets as the property of the deceased. An heir who prefers to waive their share, for example in favor of their widowed mother, is allowed to renounce the inheritance via a signed affidavit verified by a lawyer, which is attached to the application for the order.

What remains out of the game

Pension funds, provident funds, and life insurance are not divided according to these rules when beneficiaries are registered in them: the money goes directly to the beneficiaries determined in the form, and sometimes this is the large part of the family capital. Anyone who wants a distribution different from what the law dictates needs a will. One figure remains constant in all scenarios: there is no inheritance tax in Israel, since the estate tax was abolished in 1981.