Quick Answer: A prenuptial agreement in Israel is called a heskam mamon (הסכם ממון) and is governed by the Spouses' Property Relations Law 5733-1973. To be valid, it must be in writing and approved by the Family Court (Beit Mishpat LeMishpacha) or the religious court with jurisdiction over the couple, such as the Rabbinical Court (Beit Din HaRabanut). An agreement signed before the wedding can instead be authenticated by an Israeli notary, or by the marriage registrar at the time of the wedding. A signed document that never went through any of these steps is not a valid heskam mamon. Without an approved agreement, Israeli law applies the "balance of resources" (izun moshabim) regime on divorce or death: each spouse receives half the net value of assets accumulated during the marriage, with statutory exclusions for pre-marital property, gifts, and inheritance.

International couples and olim making aliyah often arrive with a clear picture of what they own — an apartment in London, a business in New York, savings built up over decades — and a real concern about what Israeli law would do with those assets if the marriage ended. Israeli marital property law produces outcomes that differ significantly from most European community-of-property regimes and from the common-law equitable distribution approach used in many American states. Understanding the framework before the wedding is far cheaper than litigating it after.

This guide explains how the prenuptial agreement works under Israeli law, which court approves it, what it can protect, how foreign assets are treated, and what the default rules look like when couples skip the agreement entirely.

The statute governing marital property between spouses who married in Israel after January 1, 1974 is the Spouses' Property Relations Law 5733-1973 (חוק יחסי ממון בין בני זוג, hereinafter "the Property Relations Law"). Couples who married before that date are governed by older legislation and Rabbinical Court property doctrines, a separate topic beyond this guide.

The Property Relations Law creates a deferred community regime. During the marriage itself, each spouse owns their own property separately and can deal with it freely without the other's consent. The community element activates only at the end of the marriage, whether by divorce or death. At that point, a financial accounting takes place and the net resources accumulated by both spouses are equalized between them.

Section 2 of the Property Relations Law gives couples the freedom to modify this default regime by agreement. That agreement, the heskam mamon, can expand the equalization pool (for example, by including pre-marital assets), shrink it (by excluding certain business assets), or replace it entirely with a different arrangement such as complete separation of property with no equalization. The only limits are that the agreement cannot contract out of mandatory provisions, and it cannot include provisions about child custody, child support, or anything contrary to public policy.

In Practice: Section 2 Is the Rule Most Couples Miss

Section 1 of the Property Relations Law requires the agreement to be in writing, and Section 2 requires it to be approved, or for a pre-wedding agreement, authenticated. Signatures alone are not enough. A document drafted by a lawyer and signed by both parties, but never approved by a court or authenticated by a notary or the marriage registrar, is not a valid heskam mamon under the Law. It may still carry some weight as an ordinary contract, but courts examine it far more strictly when one spouse later disputes it. The common failure is timing: drafting, separate review by each side, translation, and booking a hearing or notary appointment take several weeks, and couples run out of time before the wedding. Once you are married, the notary route is closed and only a court can approve the agreement.

2. The Default Rule Without an Agreement: Balance of Resources

If a couple divorces or one spouse dies without an approved heskam mamon in place, the Property Relations Law's default regime applies automatically. That default is called izun moshabim (איזון משאבים), translated as "equalization of resources" or "balance of resources."

The mechanics work as follows. When the marriage ends, each spouse prepares a statement of their net assets. Assets excluded by law are removed from each spouse's tally. What remains is the net resources each accumulated during the marriage. Those two figures are then averaged: the spouse who accumulated more transfers half the difference to the other.

The transfer is of value, not ownership. No spouse is automatically entitled to receive the other's actual property — an apartment, a business interest, a securities portfolio. They are entitled to receive cash or other assets equal to half the net surplus. In practice, this distinction matters enormously: if the higher-accumulating spouse's wealth is tied up in an illiquid business or real estate, the Family Court must decide how to satisfy the equalization payment, and that process can involve court-ordered valuations, forced sales, or installment payment plans.

In Practice: The Equalization Calculation in Numbers

Say Spouse A accumulated NIS 2,400,000 in net marital assets (apartment mortgage paid down by NIS 600,000, pension funds worth NIS 900,000, business equity NIS 500,000, savings NIS 400,000). Spouse B accumulated NIS 600,000 (pension funds NIS 400,000, savings NIS 200,000). Combined net resources: NIS 3,000,000. Each spouse is entitled to half: NIS 1,500,000. Spouse A must transfer NIS 900,000 to Spouse B to equalize. If Spouse A's wealth is concentrated in the business and pension fund, the Family Court must determine whether to order a partial sale, a structured installment payment, or transfer of a specific asset. Where the parties cannot agree, litigation typically runs 18 to 36 months and generates substantial legal costs on both sides.

3. What a Heskam Mamon Can and Cannot Cover

The heskam mamon is a flexible instrument. Within the limits of the Property Relations Law, couples can structure it to reflect almost any property arrangement they choose. Common provisions include:

  • Full separation of property: Each spouse retains everything they own, with no equalization on divorce or death. This is the most common arrangement for couples where one party enters the marriage with substantially greater assets.
  • Partial exclusion: Specific assets are carved out — a family business, a pre-marital apartment, shares received under an employee stock option plan — while everything else remains subject to the default equalization.
  • Expanded community: Pre-marital assets or inheritance received during the marriage are brought into the equalization pool, giving the lower-earning spouse a share they would not receive under the default rules.
  • Custom ratios: Instead of 50/50 equalization, the couple agrees on a different split, for example 70/30, or a sliding scale that changes based on the length of the marriage.
  • Specific asset treatment: An apartment purchased with one spouse's family money is defined as remaining outside equalization permanently, including all future appreciation.

What the heskam mamon cannot include:

  • Provisions determining child custody arrangements or restricting a court's discretion over them
  • Waivers of child support, or agreements fixing child support at a set amount regardless of future circumstances
  • Clauses that completely waive alimony in all circumstances — limited waivers for specific scenarios may be enforceable, but blanket alimony waivers are scrutinized closely by courts
  • Terms that are unconscionable or that exploit one party's weaker bargaining position at the time of signing
  • Provisions that violate Israeli mandatory law or public policy
In Practice: Alimony Waiver Clauses

Israeli courts approach alimony waiver clauses in prenuptial agreements with significant skepticism, particularly where the waiving spouse left the workforce to raise children. Although a heskam mamon is a binding contract, courts have refused to enforce specific clauses that produce a manifestly unjust outcome in light of circumstances that changed during the marriage. A waiver signed when both parties were employed may not be enforceable against a spouse who spent fifteen years raising children and has negligible earning capacity at the time of divorce. Couples who want an alimony limitation should draft it narrowly, specifying exactly which scenarios are covered, rather than using a blanket waiver, and should ensure the waiving spouse receives something meaningful in exchange.

4. Court Approval: Which Court and How It Works

Under Section 2(a) of the Property Relations Law, a heskam mamon requires approval from either the Family Court (Beit Mishpat LeMishpacha) or the religious court that has jurisdiction over the couple's marriage and divorce — for Jewish couples, the Rabbinical Court (Beit Din HaRabanut). Both can approve prenuptial and postnuptial agreements.

For an agreement signed before the wedding there are two further routes. Under Section 2(c1), an Israeli notary can authenticate it, provided the notary is satisfied that both spouses signed freely and understood its meaning and consequences. Under Section 2(c), the marriage registrar can authenticate an agreement made before or at the time of the wedding. The notary route is popular with couples who want to avoid a court hearing, but it is available only until the marriage. After the wedding, only a court can approve the agreement.

The choice depends on the couple's background and preferences. Jewish couples who anticipate that any future divorce would go through the Rabbinical Court — as all religious Jewish divorce proceedings in Israel do — often prefer Rabbinical Court approval, since the same body that will adjudicate the divorce will already be familiar with the agreement. Non-Jewish couples, interfaith couples, and couples where one partner is a foreign national typically use the Family Court, a secular civil court with no religious preconditions.

The approval process at the Family Court works as follows. Both spouses appear in person before a Family Court judge, usually at a dedicated hearing lasting 15 to 30 minutes. The judge reviews the agreement, asks each party whether they understood its contents, whether they signed freely without pressure, and whether they had the opportunity to consult an independent attorney before signing. If satisfied, the judge approves the agreement and issues an approval certificate. The agreement is then binding.

In Practice: What the Family Court Judge Actually Checks

The Family Court's role at the approval hearing is not to evaluate whether the agreement is financially fair to both parties. That is the spouses' decision, not the court's. The court's role under Section 2(b) of the Property Relations Law is to verify that the spouses made the agreement freely and understand its meaning and consequences. In practice that means three things: (1) both parties appeared voluntarily; (2) each party understood the agreement's contents; and (3) the agreement was not obtained under duress or deception. Courts reject roughly 3 to 5 percent of submitted heskam mamon agreements at this stage, typically because one party appears hesitant, says they did not read the document, or discloses that it was presented with no time to review. Courts occasionally adjourn hearings to allow one party to consult a separate attorney. To avoid delays, each party should arrive having already reviewed the agreement with their own family law attorney, not the same lawyer who drafted it for the other side.

5. Foreign Couples and International Prenuptial Agreements

Foreign nationals who marry in Israel or who move to Israel after marrying abroad face two distinct questions: which country's law governs their marital property, and whether their existing foreign prenuptial agreement will be recognized by Israeli courts.

On the first question, Israeli courts generally apply the law of the country where the couple was domiciled at the time of marriage when adjudicating property disputes. A couple who married in France, lived in Paris for five years, and then moved to Tel Aviv is likely to have their marital property governed by French law, at least for assets accumulated before the relocation. Assets accumulated in Israel during Israeli residence may be subject to Israeli law. These split-applicable-law situations require careful analysis by an attorney familiar with both jurisdictions.

On the second question, Israeli courts will recognize a foreign prenuptial agreement if it satisfies Israeli substantive requirements: both parties acted freely, the agreement was in writing, and the terms are not contrary to Israeli public policy. An agreement waiving all equalization, which is permissible under Israeli law, will not be refused on substantive grounds. An agreement containing provisions Israeli courts consider manifestly unconscionable may be partially enforced, with the offending clause severed.

The practical recommendation for international couples relocating to Israel for the long term is to execute a fresh Israeli heskam mamon, even if they already hold a valid foreign prenuptial agreement. The Israeli agreement eliminates the cross-border recognition question entirely and gives each party certainty about what Israeli law says about their arrangement.

The reverse problem also needs attention. An agreement approved in Israel is not automatically recognized everywhere else, and a court abroad may apply its own rules to a house or investment account located there. When significant assets sit outside Israel, an international agreement should include an express choice-of-law clause and a clause on which country's courts will hear property disputes, and the Israeli attorney should check with a lawyer in each country where assets are held whether any local formalities are needed for the agreement to be enforceable there.

In Practice: Olim With Foreign Real Estate

New immigrants (olim chadashim) who owned an apartment or house in their country of origin before making aliyah frequently ask whether that property will be subject to equalization if they later divorce in Israel. Under Section 5(a)(1) of the Property Relations Law, property owned before the marriage is excluded from equalization. Property acquired during the marriage is more complex: it is excluded if purchased with pre-marital separate funds, but the burden of proving that falls on the owning spouse. Israeli Family Court judges cannot easily assess foreign property registries, valuations in foreign currencies, or mortgage documentation in other languages. A well-drafted heskam mamon that explicitly names the foreign property and confirms it falls outside equalization, translated into Hebrew and filed with the Family Court, creates a clear paper trail that avoids years of expensive litigation. The Population and Immigration Authority (Misrad HaPnim) handles the aliyah process but has no involvement in marital property agreements. Couples making aliyah with significant foreign assets should prioritize the heskam mamon before or shortly after their arrival in Israel.

6. Signing After Marriage: Postnuptial Agreements in Israel

Sections 1 and 2 of the Property Relations Law apply to any agreement between spouses that regulates their property relations, so an agreement can be made at any point during the marriage, not only before it. A postnuptial agreement must be written, signed by both parties, and approved by the Family Court or the religious court at a hearing where both appear in person. The notary and marriage-registrar routes are not available once the couple is married.

Postnuptial agreements arise in several practical situations. Couples who married without a prenuptial and then acquired significant assets — a successful business, an inheritance, a large property portfolio — sometimes reach an agreement about how those assets should be treated. Couples who were advised to sign a prenuptial but never completed the process before the wedding use a postnuptial to address the same concerns.

The Family Court scrutinizes postnuptial agreements more carefully than prenuptials in one specific respect: the court is alert to agreements signed while a couple is already experiencing serious marital difficulties. An agreement signed under the threat of divorce proceedings, or designed to induce a spouse to withdraw from existing proceedings, may be challenged later on grounds of duress. The closer the agreement is to the actual breakdown of the marriage, the harder it becomes to distinguish from a separation agreement, which carries different legal requirements.

In Practice: Timing a Postnuptial Agreement Correctly

Couples who want a postnuptial agreement should sign and file it during a period of marital stability, not crisis. A postnuptial signed one month before a divorce petition is filed will face a difficult challenge in court — the other party's attorney will argue the signing spouse acted under pressure or did not adequately consider the implications. Postnuptials signed while the marriage is functioning normally, with each party represented by separate counsel and both appearing voluntarily at the Family Court hearing, are far more defensible. Courts that approved the agreement at the time of signing rarely revisit that approval later, absent clear evidence of fraud or fundamental misrepresentation. The Family Court's approval certificate is strong evidence of the agreement's ongoing validity.

7. Assets Excluded From Equalization Even Without a Prenuptial Agreement

The Property Relations Law already excludes certain categories of assets from the default equalization calculation. Understanding these exclusions matters for couples who decide not to sign a heskam mamon and for those who are drafting one, because a well-drafted agreement typically starts by mapping what is already excluded by statute, then addresses the gaps the default rules leave open.

Section 5(a) of the Property Relations Law excludes three categories of assets from equalization:

  • Pre-marital property, gifts and inheritance (Section 5(a)(1)): Assets a spouse owned on the eve of the marriage, and property received as a gift or inheritance during the marriage, stay outside the equalization calculation. A spouse who owned a Tel Aviv apartment worth NIS 2,000,000 at the time of marriage is entitled to exclude it, even if it is worth NIS 4,000,000 at the time of divorce.
  • National Insurance benefits and bodily-injury compensation (Section 5(a)(2)): Benefits paid by the National Insurance Institute, and benefits or compensation awarded under law for bodily injury or death, are excluded.
  • Property designated as separate in writing (Section 5(a)(3)): Assets that the spouses agreed in writing would not be equalized are excluded.

Section 5(c) is just as important in the other direction: it confirms that the pool to be equalized includes future pension rights, severance pay, advanced training funds, provident funds and savings. Without an agreement, these accumulate into the shared pool from the wedding day.

The practical risk with the statutory exclusions is commingling. An inherited NIS 500,000 deposited into a joint account and spent on family expenses loses its traceable separate character. An apartment owned before marriage that the couple renovated using shared earnings may have its appreciation partially reclassified as a joint resource. A prenuptial agreement that specifies exactly which assets are excluded and requires those assets to be kept in dedicated separate accounts removes the commingling problem before it starts.

In Practice: The Commingling Trap With Pre-Marital Property

A frequently litigated scenario: one spouse owns an apartment before marriage worth NIS 1,500,000 at the wedding date. Over fifteen years, the mortgage is paid down using joint funds drawn from both spouses' salaries. The apartment is now worth NIS 3,200,000 with a remaining mortgage balance of NIS 200,000. On divorce, the non-owning spouse argues that the equity attributable to joint mortgage payments constitutes a marital resource subject to equalization. Israeli Family Courts have reached inconsistent results on this question, with some awarding the non-owning spouse a proportionate share of the equity financed by joint funds. A heskam mamon stating that the apartment, including all future appreciation and all equity resulting from mortgage payments whether from separate or joint funds, remains entirely outside equalization resolves the ambiguity and prevents the litigation entirely.

8. Step-by-Step: Getting Your Heskam Mamon Approved in Israel

Getting a heskam mamon approved is a straightforward legal process when properly prepared. The typical timeline from start to court approval is two to six weeks.

Step 1 — Asset disclosure. Both parties prepare a complete schedule of current assets and liabilities: bank accounts, real estate in Israel and abroad, pension funds and provident funds, business interests, investments, vehicles, and loans. Full disclosure is not legally mandatory at the drafting stage, but agreements signed without disclosure are more vulnerable to challenge later. Courts in several rulings have treated non-disclosure of major assets as a basis for refusing to enforce specific provisions of a heskam mamon.

Step 2 — Engage separate attorneys. Each party should retain an independent Israeli family law attorney. Using one lawyer to draft the agreement for both parties creates a conflict of interest and weakens the agreement's credibility at the approval hearing. Attorney fees for drafting and filing a heskam mamon typically run NIS 3,000 to NIS 8,000 per attorney, depending on asset complexity.

Step 3 — Draft the agreement. The drafting attorney prepares the document in Hebrew, incorporating the provisions both parties agreed upon. The agreement identifies each included and excluded asset by name or description and specifies what happens to each category on divorce or death. English-language versions for international clients are common, but the Hebrew version controls in any Israeli court proceeding.

Step 4 — File with the Family Court or Rabbinical Court. The attorneys file the agreement together with a joint application for approval. The court filing fee at the Family Court is approximately NIS 368 under the Court Fees Regulations. The court schedules a hearing, typically within two to four weeks of filing. If the wedding has not yet taken place, the couple can instead sign before an Israeli notary, who authenticates the agreement under Section 2(c1) after confirming that both understand it and are signing freely.

Step 5 — Attend the approval hearing. Both spouses appear before the Family Court judge in person. The judge questions each party to confirm they read and understood the agreement and signed freely. The hearing typically lasts 15 to 30 minutes. If the judge is satisfied, an approval certificate is issued on the spot or within a few days.

Step 6 — Store the approved agreement. Keep certified copies of the approved heskam mamon in a secure location. Many attorneys recommend depositing a copy with the relevant court registry and retaining the original in a bank safe deposit box or with the attorney. In any future divorce or estate proceeding, the original with the court's approval stamp is the document that matters.

In Practice: Pension Funds Require Separate Attention

Israeli pension funds (kranot pensia), provident funds (kuppot gemel), and advanced training funds (kuppot hishtalmut) are marital resources subject to equalization under the Property Relations Law and subsequent case law. On divorce, a Family Court order can direct the pension fund administrator to split the fund and transfer a share to the other spouse, a process governed by the Supervision of Financial Services Regulations (Pension Fund Portability). If the heskam mamon excludes pension funds from equalization, the agreement must say so explicitly. A blanket "full separation of property" clause is generally sufficient to cover pension funds, but an attorney familiar with pension fund splitting procedures should confirm this. Major pension fund administrators including Menorah Mivtachim, Harel, and Migdal require a certified copy of the court's equalization order before acting on any transfer instruction. If the heskam mamon carves out pension funds, lodge a copy of the approved agreement with the fund administrator during the marriage, not only at the time of divorce.

9. Adding Protection Against Get Refusal

For Jewish couples, a heskam mamon can address a problem that has nothing to do with property division. A Jewish divorce in Israel is complete only when the husband gives, and the wife accepts, a get before the Rabbinical Court, and Jewish law requires the get to be given freely. A spouse who refuses can leave the other unable to remarry for years. You can read more in our guide to get refusal in Israel.

A get-refusal clause tackles this through money rather than force. In the commonly used model, each spouse undertakes to pay the other a substantial monthly support sum, starting a set period after one of them asks for a divorce and continuing until the get is completed. Because the obligation is framed as maintenance rather than a penalty for refusing, it aims to create a strong financial incentive without making the get "coerced", which would make it invalid under Jewish law. Rabbinical opinion on such clauses is not uniform, so the wording matters, and it should be drafted by a lawyer who knows how the Rabbinical Courts treat them.

The clause matters most where one spouse may end up living abroad. The Rabbinical Court's statutory sanctions against a refusing spouse, such as travel bans and the suspension of driving and professional licenses, work only against someone within Israel's reach. A support obligation in an approved agreement is an ordinary money debt, which can be pursued against the refusing spouse's assets in Israel and, subject to local recognition rules, abroad.