Estate assets are bequeathed or devised either by Will are by statute.
Israeli law permits a testator to leave estate assets to his/her beneficiaries of choice. There is no rights of election against the Will by a spouse or by children.
A Will need not be drafted by an attorney. However, if the Will has fatal flaws, the court will not be probate it.
A spouse, including a common law spouse, as well as the deceased’s minor children, are entitled to sue the estate for maintenance, even if they are not named as beneficiaries in the Will.
In the event that a person dies intestate, his/her assets are divided by law. If the deceased were married at the time of death and was survived by children, the spouse will inherit one half of the estate and the other half will be equally divided among the children.
It the deceased left offspring but was not married at the time of death, the offspring will inherit the entire estate equally. There is no distinction between the rights of a biological and an adoptive child.
If the deceased were a non-Israeli resident, the courts require a legal opinion describing the estate law of the decedent’s jurisdiction in order to probate the estate.