Are Israeli inheritance files and wills confidential, or can anyone read them?

The Registrar of Inheritance Affairs keeps two separate records that people often confuse. The first is the deposit register created by Section 21 of the Succession Law 5725-1965, where a testator lodges a sealed will against a receipt. The register records that a will was deposited and by whom, not what it says, and the envelope is opened only after death is proved. The second is the file opened when an heir applies for a succession or probate order. At that point the Registrar publishes a notice of the application in a daily newspaper and in the official gazette, and sends a copy to the Administrator General, but the text of the will itself is never published. Inspecting the file requires the Registrar’s permission under the Inheritance Regulations 5758-1998, and the applicant has to show why they qualify as an interested party.

For a foreign heir this cuts both ways. You cannot simply write to the Registrar and ask whether a distant relative left a will unless you can demonstrate a connection to the estate, so the first step is usually a certified and apostilled death certificate together with documents proving the family relationship. The online deposit search will confirm only whether a will was lodged, never its contents. If another relative has already obtained an order, ask for a copy of the order rather than the file, since a probate or succession order is the document Israeli banks and the Land Registry actually act on. Once a dispute is filed, the matter moves to the Family Court, where hearings in family and inheritance matters are closed to the public by default.

From the full guide: Depositing a Will in Israel: How the Inheritance Registrar Process Works

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