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Spouses (Property Relations) Law, 5733-1973

חוק יחסי ממון בין בני זוג, תשל"ג-1973

Published: 1973-08-03Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2024-08-22 · Last amended 2008-11-12✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-04
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Unofficial English translation — for reference only. It may contain errors or omissions and cannot be relied on as a legal text. Only the Hebrew text published in Reshumot is legally binding.More

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Despite these checks, it may contain errors, omissions, or imprecise renderings of legal terminology and cross-references, and it may not yet reflect the latest amendments. It cannot be relied upon as a legal text.

The Hebrew text as published in Reshumot (ספר החוקים) and on the Knesset website is the sole authoritative and legally binding version. In any discrepancy, the Hebrew text prevails.

This translation is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For use in legal proceedings, request a certified Expert Legal Opinion.

Chapter I: Agreed Arrangement

Matrimonial Property Agreement§

1.

An agreement between spouses regulating the property relations between them (hereinafter – matrimonial property agreement), and any amendment of such an agreement, shall be in writing.

Approval and Authentication§

2.
(a)A matrimonial property agreement requires the approval of the Family Court (hereinafter – the court) or of the religious tribunal having jurisdiction over the marriage and divorce of the spouses (hereinafter – the tribunal), and any amendment of such an agreement likewise requires such approval.
(b)Approval shall not be granted unless the court or the tribunal has satisfied itself that the spouses entered into the agreement or the amendment of their own free will and with understanding of its meaning and consequences.
(c)In the case of a matrimonial property agreement concluded before the marriage or at the time of its solemnisation, authentication by the marriage registrar may replace approval by the court or the tribunal.
(c1)A matrimonial property agreement concluded before the marriage may be authenticated by a notary under the Notaries Law, 5736-1976, provided that the notary has satisfied himself that the spouses appearing before him entered into the agreement of their own free will and with understanding of its meaning and consequences.
(d)An agreement between spouses that has been approved in a judgment dissolving the marriage by the tribunal shall have the same effect as a matrimonial property agreement approved under this section; in this Law, "dissolution of marriage" includes divorce, annulment of marriage, a declaration that the marriage is void ab initio, or separation under a religious law that does not permit divorce.

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Chapter II: Resource Balancing Arrangement

Application of the Arrangement§

3.
(a)Where spouses have not entered into a matrimonial property agreement, and where they have done so – to the extent that the agreement does not provide otherwise, they shall be deemed to have agreed to the resource balancing arrangement under this Chapter, and that arrangement shall be deemed to have been agreed upon in a matrimonial property agreement of full force in which the provisions of section 2 have been fulfilled.
(b)Where spouses have not requested authentication of a matrimonial property agreement in accordance with section 2(c), the marriage registrar shall explain to them, before the solemnisation of the marriage, the content and meaning of subsection (a).

Absence of Consequences during the Marriage§

4.

The solemnisation of the marriage or its subsistence as such shall not prejudice the property of the spouses, confer upon either of them rights in the assets of the other, or impose upon either of them liability for the debts of the other.

The Right to Balancing upon Termination of the Marriage§

5.
(a)Upon dissolution of the marriage or upon termination of the marriage by reason of the death of a spouse (in this Law – termination of the marriage), each of the spouses is entitled to one half of the value of the total assets of the spouses, except for –
(1)assets that were in their possession on the eve of the marriage or that were received by gift or inheritance during the marriage;
(2)a benefit paid to one of the spouses by the National Insurance Institute, or a benefit or compensation awarded or due under legislation to one of the spouses in respect of bodily injury or death;
(3)assets in respect of which the spouses have agreed in writing that their value shall not be balanced between them.
(b)Upon termination of the marriage by reason of the death of a spouse, the heirs of the deceased shall, for the purpose of the right to resource balancing, stand in that spouse's place.
(c)In this section, "total assets of the spouses" includes future entitlements to pension, severance pay, study funds, provident funds and savings.

Advancement of the Date for Resource Balancing§

5a.
(a)The right to resource balancing under section 5 shall accrue to each of the spouses even before termination of the marriage if an application for the implementation of a resource balancing arrangement under this Chapter has been submitted and one of the following conditions has been fulfilled:
(1)one year has elapsed from the date on which one of the following proceedings was opened:
(a)proceedings for dissolution of the marriage;
(b)a claim for division of property between the spouses, including a claim for partition of real property jointly owned by the spouses under the Land Law, 5729-1969, a claim for a declaratory judgment regarding the rights of the spouses in property, an application for the implementation of a resource balancing arrangement under this Chapter, or an application under section 11;
(2)a rift exists between the spouses or the spouses are living separately even if under the same roof for a cumulative period of at least nine months out of a consecutive period of one year; the court or the tribunal may shorten the said period in this paragraph if a judicial decision attesting to the existence of a rift between the spouses has been given.
(b)The court or the tribunal may, in a reasoned written decision, shorten the periods referred to in subsection (a) or, if an application for implementation of the resource balancing arrangement under this Chapter has been submitted and the court or the tribunal has found that there are circumstances justifying it, advance the date for implementation of the arrangement even if the provisions of subsection (a) have not been fulfilled, where one of the following applies:
(1)a protection order under the Prevention of Family Violence Law, 5751-1991, an order under the Prevention of Stalking Law, 5762-2001, or a restraining order to ensure peaceful shelter has been issued against the applicant's spouse, all in a hearing convened in the presence of both parties;
(2)an indictment has been filed against the applicant's spouse that includes a charge of a violence offence committed against the applicant or the applicant's child;
(3)a court has ordered the detention of the applicant's spouse after being satisfied that there is reasonable suspicion that the spouse committed a violence offence against the applicant or the applicant's child and that there are reasonable grounds to fear that the spouse will endanger their safety, or has ordered the spouse's release from detention in the said circumstances under conditions set out in Section F of Chapter II of the Criminal Procedure (Enforcement Powers – Arrests) Law, 5756-1996, having determined that the conditions, in whole or in part, are intended to protect the applicant or the child.
(c)The court or the tribunal that has given a judgment for resource balancing may make its implementation conditional upon the deposit, before the tribunal or the court competent to dissolve the marriage of the spouses, of a deed of consent to dissolution of the marriage, including a deed of consent to the giving or receipt of a get, by the applicant.
(d)The court or the tribunal that has given a judgment for resource balancing may stay its implementation if it considers that the applicant is acting in bad faith with respect to the dissolution of the marriage; however, the applicant's refusal to waive rights to which the applicant or the applicant's child is entitled by law shall not be regarded as bad faith.
(e)An application for the implementation of a resource balancing arrangement shall not be dismissed or struck out solely because one year has not yet elapsed from the date on which proceedings referred to in subsection (a)(1)(b) were opened, and the court or the tribunal may stay the hearing of such an application.

Realisation of the Right to Balancing§

6.
(a)For the purpose of resource balancing under section 5, the assets of each of the spouses shall be valued, except for assets whose value is not to be balanced; from the value of those assets of each spouse, the amount of the debts owing by that spouse shall be deducted, except for debts in connection with assets whose value is not to be balanced.
(b)If the value of the assets of one spouse exceeds the value of the assets of the other, the former shall give the latter one half of the difference, whether in kind or in money or money's worth.
(c)In the absence of agreement between the spouses as to what is owing from one to the other or as to the manner in which the balancing is to be effected, the court or the tribunal shall decide according to the circumstances, and may determine the dates of implementation, the security therefor and other conditions thereof, including the addition of interest in the event of an extension or payment by instalments.
(d)In its decision under subsection (c), the court or the tribunal shall take into account all circumstances relating to the financial position of each of the spouses and the welfare of their minor children, in a manner that prevents, as far as possible –
(1)the causing of loss of a reasonable source of livelihood to one of the spouses;
(2)the cessation of existence or harm to the continued proper functioning of a corporation or other place of business;
(3)harm to the accrual of the social rights of one of the spouses;
(4)harm to the welfare of the minor children of the spouses.

Sale of the Spouses' Residential Apartment§

6a.

Where the court or the tribunal considers that, for the purpose of implementing resource balancing, it is necessary to sell an apartment serving as the residence of the spouses or as the residence of the minor children of the spouses and the spouse having custody of them, it shall not order the sale to be carried out, and it shall be stayed, for as long as the court or the tribunal has not satisfied itself that alternative residential arrangements suitable to their needs have been found for the minor children of the spouses and the spouse having custody of them jointly, including interim temporary residential arrangements suitable to their needs, for a period to be determined.

Expansion of the Balancing Base§

7.

An asset that a spouse has transferred or has undertaken to transfer out of that spouse's possession with the intention of frustrating the right of the other spouse under section 5, and an asset that was given or undertaken to be given as a gift – other than gifts and donations given according to custom in the circumstances of the matter – the court or the tribunal may, for the purpose of resource balancing, treat as if it still belongs to that spouse.

Special Powers§

8.

Where the court or the tribunal considers that special circumstances justify it, it may, upon the application of one of the spouses – if property relations have not been determined in a judgment dissolving the marriage – do one or more of the following within the framework of resource balancing:

(1)determine additional assets beyond those listed in section 5 whose value shall not be balanced between the spouses;
(2)determine that the balancing of the value of the assets, in whole or in part, shall not be on an equal basis but according to another ratio to be determined, taking into account, inter alia, future assets including the earning capacity of each of the spouses;
(3)determine that the balancing of the value of the assets, in whole or in part, shall not be according to their value at the time of resource balancing but according to their value at an earlier date to be determined;
(4)determine that the resource balancing shall relate not to assets held by the spouses at the time of resource balancing but to assets held by them at an earlier date to be determined.

Evidence§

9.

Evidence that an asset is owned or held by one of the spouses or that it is registered in that spouse's name shall not in itself suffice to discharge the burden of proof that this asset is to be excluded from the assets whose value is to be balanced between the spouses.

Transactions in the Right to Balancing§

10.

A spouse's right to resource balancing is not transferable, chargeable or attachable as long as that spouse is not entitled to realise it.

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Chapter III: Provisions Applicable to Every Arrangement

Measures for the Protection of Rights§

11.

Where one of the spouses has performed an act capable of frustrating a right or a future right of the other spouse under a matrimonial property agreement or under the resource balancing arrangement, or where there is reasonable apprehension that such an act is about to be performed, the court or the tribunal may, upon the application of the other spouse, take measures to protect the said right, and may in particular do one or more of the following:

(1)order the provision of information and the giving of security;
(2)determine acts that shall require the consent of both spouses;
(3)order the registration of an appropriate note in a register maintained under a law in which an asset of one of the spouses is registered.

Authorisation of an Act Requiring Consent§

12.

Where an act of one of the spouses requires, under a matrimonial property agreement or under an Order in accordance with section 11(2), the consent of the other spouse and that other spouse has refused to consent, the court or the tribunal may authorise the act if it considers that the refusal was arbitrary; where the other spouse was unable to express an opinion or where there was no reasonable possibility of ascertaining that spouse's opinion, the court or the tribunal may authorise the act if it considers that it is in the interest of the family.

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Chapter IV: Miscellaneous Provisions

The Law and the Tribunals§

13.
(a)This Law does not come to alter the jurisdiction of religious tribunals.
(b)In a matter dealt with by this Law, a religious tribunal shall also act in accordance with the provisions of this Law, unless the parties have agreed before the tribunal to litigate according to religious law.

Transitional Provisions§

14.

Section 3 and the other provisions of Chapter II shall not apply to spouses who married each other before the commencement of this Law.

Private International Law§

15.

The property relations between spouses shall be governed by the law of their domicile at the time of the solemnisation of the marriage, but they may by agreement determine and alter those relations in accordance with the law of their domicile at the time of the making of the agreement.

Amendment of the Succession Law§

16.

In the Succession Law, 5725-1965 –

(1)in section 11(b), after "in their joint ownership" there shall come "or that upon the death of one of them one half of the value of all or most of their assets by value has passed to the survivor, whether by law or by agreement between them";
(2)in section 11(c), instead of "this provision does not come to prejudice" there shall come "this provision shall not apply to what is owing to a spouse under the Spouses (Property Relations) Law, 5733-1973, or under a matrimonial property agreement within the meaning of that Law, and does not come to prejudice";
(3)in section 104(a)(4), at the end there shall come "and what is owing to a spouse under the Spouses (Property Relations) Law, 5733-1973, or under a matrimonial property agreement within the meaning of that Law".

Savings of Rights and Laws§

17.

Nothing in this Law shall derogate from rights under the Family Law Amendment (Maintenance) Law, 5719-1959, or from the wife's rights under her marriage contract, and nothing therein shall derogate from the provisions of section 101 of the Land Law, 5729-1969.

Implementation and Regulations§

18.

The Minister of Justice is charged with the implementation of this Law and may make Regulations for its implementation.

Commencement§

19.

This Law shall come into force on the 7th of Tevet 5734 (1 January 1974).

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LawFamily Law

חוק יחסי ממון בין בני זוג, תשל"ג-1973

spouses property relations law

spousal property law

marriage property law

yichase mammon bein bnei zug

property relations spouses

matrimonial property

spousal assets law

marriage financial law

joint property spouse

family property law