By Neil J. Saltzman, Israeli attorney-at-law

Domestic relations matters in Israel are in the jurisdiction of two separate court systems: the civil courts and the religious courts.

Religious courts have been established for each of the major religions in Israel. There are Jewish rabbinic courts; Sharai Islamic courts; Christian religious courts; and Druse courts. The jurisdiction of the religious courts is exclusive in some areas of domestic relations, and concurrent with the civilian courts in others. The jurisdictional rules applying to mixed marriages, and members of no recognized religion are unique and will not be discussed here.

This essay will focus on the legal system in Israel as it affects Jews.

Jewish rabbinic courts have exclusive jurisdiction in connection with marriage and divorce of Jews in Israel. If a party initiating a divorce action explicitly includes a related claim, such as a claim for maintenance or child support, and no other claim on that same related matter was previously submitted to the civil courts, the rabbinic courts obtain exclusive jurisdiction in connection with the related claim as well. One matter that is always considered to be included in the divorce action, whether mentioned explicitly or not, is the issue of child custody. Unless a claim on the issue of child custody was submitted to the civil courts prior to the filing of the divorce action, the rabbinic courts will automatically have exclusive jurisdiction on that issue when the divorce action is filed. For this reason, litigating spouses often race to file first in the system that they believe favors their interests, and a party suing for divorce must be careful to open a child custody file in the civil courts before initiating the divorce action if he feels that the civil courts will benefit his interests.

Besides divorce actions Jewish rabbinic courts have jurisdiction concurrent with that of the civil courts in matters of spousal maintenance, child support, guardianship, inheritance and adoption, among others. For most of these actions the agreement of all parties is required in order for the rabbinic court to obtain jurisdiction.

Generally speaking, the rabbinic courts apply Jewish religious law in its adjudications. The Israeli High Court of Justice has carved out several exceptions to this rule obligating the rabbinic courts to follow general civil law in connection with the division of marital property (absent agreement of all parties to apply religious law) and to give proper weight to principles of basic human rights as defined and established in Israels Basic Laws.

Rabbinic courts have the authority to force compliance with its orders, including those requiring husbands to grant a Jewish divorce, with tools ranging from revocation of a drivers licenses to prison terms for recalcitrant parties.

The civil court possessing jurisdiction in matters of domestic relations is Family Court. Family Court has jurisdiction in matters of personal status, including child support, maintenance, guardianship, division of marital property and filiation proceedings. It also has jurisdiction in matters of inheritance, civil disputes between family members where the relationship is relevant to the dispute, adoption and a number of others. Where the religious courts have exclusive jurisdiction the Family Court retreats. Where the religious courts have already exercised concurrent jurisdiction the Family Court will also retreat. Otherwise, agreement of all parties is not required to bring an issue before Family Court.

In matters of child support and maintenance Family Court will apply Jewish Law to Jewish couples. Relevant rules include a fathers duty, regardless of issues of legitimacy to pay for a childs basic needs until that childs achieving majority. The extent of this obligation varies with a childs age, the fathers income, to a more limited extent the mothers income, and any special needs the child may have. The details are beyond the scope of this essay. Suffice it to say that the obligation of a Jewish father to pay child support is absolute, unaffected by issues of legitimacy, visitation and, as applied by some courts in Israel, to some extent unrelated even to the ability to pay.  The National Insurance Institute (a government body) will often pay child support up to a certain amount in place of a delinquent father, seeking collection from that father in turn. The courts typically use these maximum statutory National Insurance amounts as baselines for support awards even in connection with the poorest and least employable of fathers.

The obligation to pay spousal maintenance exists only as long as the marriage and falls only upon the husband; there is no Jewish form of post- divorce alimony. This fact sometimes counteracts a husbands unwillingness to grant his wife a Jewish divorce since he typically has to pay as long as the couple is married, and is sometimes abused by married women who prefer maintenance payments to a finalized divorce even when they have no intention to reconcile. While Jewish law offers a solution to both problems (the rules of meukevet machmato and moredet), the levels of proof required for their application by both the religious and civil courts in Israel make them rather weak tools in todays proceedings there.

In this context let it be noted that stay of exit orders against defendant spouses and parents are not especially difficult to get in Israel, though more rigorous standards apply if the subject of the order is a foreign citizen.

Divorce agreements require court approval to be enforceable. By statute division of the marital estate is by and large equitable with exceptions for pre-marriage property, inheritances and gifts received by one spouse only and several other types of assets. Donative intent can override the exception and create joint holder status where it otherwise would not have existed.

Navigating the Israeli court system in the context of domestic relations law requires expertise and it is always advisable to obtain legal advice in connection with any proceeding- whether adversarial or not. A number of potential procedural and legal landmines exist for the uninitiated that can have significant effect on the outcome of a case. The details are many and the above survey is just that- a survey reflective of the general rules and the courts application of them at the time of this writing. It cannot be depended on as applicable in any specific situation or as a substitute for legal advice in relation to a specific case.