Quick Answer: Under Israeli law, a surviving spouse is a preferred heir. If there are children, the spouse inherits half the estate and receives lifelong use of the family home. Without children, the spouse may inherit the entire estate. A will can modify these shares, but cannot leave the spouse with less than their statutory minimum entitlements.

1. Overview

When a married person dies in Israel, their surviving spouse holds a powerful legal position. Israeli inheritance law — primarily the Succession Law 1965 (Chok Hayerusha) — grants the surviving spouse both inheritance rights and a set of additional protections that go beyond a simple share of the estate.

These protections include the right to remain in the family home, the right to maintenance from the estate, and rights under the Spouses (Property Relations) Law 1973 to the marital share of jointly accumulated assets — which must be settled before the inheritance is calculated.

For international families — where the deceased or surviving spouse is a foreign national, or where significant assets are held abroad — understanding these rights and how they interact with foreign law is essential.

2. Intestate Succession: The Spouse's Statutory Share

Where a person dies without a valid will (intestate), the Succession Law 1965 determines who inherits. The surviving spouse is entitled to the following shares:

  • Where the deceased leaves children (or their descendants): The surviving spouse inherits half of the estate. The other half is divided equally among the children.
  • Where the deceased leaves parents (but no children): The surviving spouse inherits two-thirds of the estate. The remaining third goes to the parents.
  • Where the deceased leaves siblings (but no children and no parents): The surviving spouse inherits two-thirds of the estate, with the remaining third going to siblings.
  • Where there are no other relatives: The surviving spouse inherits the entire estate.

These are the inheritance shares — the share of assets that pass from the deceased to the heirs. They are separate from the surviving spouse's property rights under the marital property regime (see section 6 below).

3. The Family Home: Special Protection

One of the most important protections for surviving spouses in Israeli law is the right to the family home. Under the Succession Law, the surviving spouse is entitled to:

  • Use of the family home for life — regardless of what the will says and regardless of who formally inherits it. Even if the home passes to children under intestate succession or under a will, the surviving spouse has a statutory right of residence that cannot be overridden.
  • The moveable contents of the home (furniture, household items) pass to the surviving spouse as their own property, not as part of the estate to be divided.

The right to the family home is a usufructuary right — the spouse has the right to use and live in the home, but cannot sell it. Their right ends if they choose to leave the home permanently or remarry (under some interpretations, depending on the circumstances).

Where the family home is rented (not owned), the surviving spouse has the right to continue the tenancy under the same terms.

4. Maintenance from the Estate

In addition to their inheritance share, a surviving spouse who was financially dependent on the deceased is entitled to claim maintenance (mezonot) from the estate. This is a claim against the estate's assets — separate from and in addition to the inheritance share.

The maintenance is calculated according to the standard of living maintained during the marriage and the size of the estate. The right to maintenance from the estate continues until the surviving spouse remarries or cohabits with a new partner, or until the estate is insufficient to pay further support.

This provision is particularly important where the surviving spouse is elderly, has been out of the workforce, or where the primary breadwinner has died leaving a spouse without independent means.

5. When There Is a Will

A testator in Israel has considerable freedom to distribute their estate by will. However, certain protections for the surviving spouse cannot be overridden by will:

  • The right to reside in the family home is a statutory right that a will cannot remove.
  • The right to household moveable contents is similarly protected.
  • A surviving spouse who is left nothing or very little by will can claim maintenance from the estate as described above.

There is no fixed "forced share" (l?gitime) for spouses in Israeli law equivalent to some civil law systems. A surviving spouse is not automatically entitled to a minimum percentage of the estate under a will — but they can claim maintenance, and the family home protections apply regardless.

Israeli law does recognise the ability to contest a will on grounds such as undue influence, lack of testamentary capacity, or forgery. A surviving spouse who believes they have been unfairly excluded should take legal advice promptly.

In Practice: Under the Spouses (Property Relations) Law 5733-1973, a surviving spouse who married after 1974 is entitled to claim an equal share (50%) of all jointly accumulated marital property upon the death of the other spouse — entirely separately from the inheritance rights under the Succession Law 1965. This means the surviving spouse's claim has two distinct components: the marital property share (up to 50% of all assets acquired during the marriage), plus the succession share (as calculated under the Succession Law from the deceased's remaining estate). For estates that include pre-marital assets or assets acquired by gift or inheritance during the marriage, the division between marital property and estate property requires a detailed asset history. An Israeli Family Court can appoint a forensic accountant to trace asset origins at a cost of NIS 15,000-40,000.

6. Marital Property Rights on Death

Before the inheritance is calculated, the surviving spouse's rights under the Spouses (Property Relations) Law 1973 must be settled. Under this law, both spouses are entitled to half the net marital estate upon dissolution of the marriage — and death is a dissolution event.

This means the surviving spouse is first entitled to receive their half of the jointly accumulated marital assets — these assets are not part of the deceased's estate at all and do not pass to other heirs. Only the remaining half (the deceased's share) forms the "estate" from which inheritance rights are calculated.

In practice, this two-step process — first the marital property settlement, then the inheritance — can significantly increase the surviving spouse's total share of the family wealth compared to what the inheritance share alone might suggest.

In Practice: This two-step process is where foreign heirs — particularly children from a prior marriage — are most often surprised. They see the inheritance as "half the estate" and expect to receive significant assets. But if the couple accumulated most of their wealth jointly during the marriage, the surviving spouse first takes their half of the marital estate. The "estate" available for inheritance may be far smaller than expected. In one typical scenario: an Israeli couple with a NIS 3 million apartment. The surviving spouse takes NIS 1.5 million as their marital share; the remaining NIS 1.5 million becomes the estate, of which the spouse inherits half (NIS 750,000) and two children split the other half (NIS 375,000 each). The total the children receive may be a fraction of what they assumed.

7. Foreign Surviving Spouses

For foreign nationals surviving an Israeli spouse, several additional considerations apply:

Recognition of the marriage: The surviving spouse's rights depend on being recognised as a legally married spouse. In Israel, marriages contracted abroad are generally recognised, including same-sex marriages from countries where these are legal. However, certain marriages valid abroad may not be recognised in Israel — legal advice is essential to confirm status.

Applicable law: The Succession Law 1965 applies to the Israeli estate of a person domiciled in Israel. For assets located abroad, the law of the country where those assets are situated will determine inheritance rights — which may differ significantly from Israeli law.

Succession orders: To administer the estate, the surviving spouse or other heirs typically need to obtain a succession order (tzav yerusha) or probate an Israeli will through the Registrar of Inheritance. Foreign heirs can participate in this process through an Israeli attorney.

A British woman whose Israeli husband died intestate contacted us eighteen months after his death, unaware that his children from a prior marriage had already applied for and obtained a succession order naming only themselves as heirs — without notifying her. She held an Apostille-certified UK marriage certificate confirming the marriage was registered in Israel's Population Registry before his death. We filed an immediate application to the Registrar of Inheritances in Tel Aviv to join the proceedings and contest the succession order, submitting the marriage certificate and Population Registry confirmation as evidence. The Registrar revoked the prior order and issued a corrected one recognizing her as spouse — entitling her to half the Israeli estate and lifelong use of the Tel Aviv apartment under the Succession Law. The lesson: a foreign surviving spouse must take independent legal action to register their interest with the Registrar of Inheritances — do not assume other heirs will disclose your existence.