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Can a spouse in Israel sue for damages over a refused Get?

Yes. Israeli family courts have awarded substantial damages against a spouse who withholds a Get, treating deliberate refusal as a civil wrong under Sections 35 and 63 of the Civil Wrongs Ordinance [New Version]. The claim is filed in the Family Court and runs separately from the sanctions a Rabbinical Court can impose under the Rabbinical Courts (Enforcement of Divorce Judgments) Law 5755-1995. Reported awards have reached several hundred thousand shekels where the refusal lasted for years. Courts generally expect a prior Rabbinical Court ruling obliging or compelling the Get before they will assess damages.

This route developed because the Rabbinical Court alone controls whether a Get is actually given, and its sanctions punish the refusing spouse without compensating the other one for the years lost. Family courts fill that gap by treating prolonged refusal as negligence or as breach of a statutory duty, then valuing the harm: the inability to remarry, the inability to have children within a recognised marriage, and the psychological damage that living as an agunah causes. The award is framed as compensation rather than pressure, a distinction that matters because halachic authorities regard a Get extracted by coercion as potentially invalid. Several Rabbinical Court panels have criticised the practice for exactly that reason.

A diaspora spouse can bring the claim where the refusing spouse lives in Israel or holds Israeli citizenship, and there is no requirement to be resident in the country to file. The usual sequence is a Rabbinical Court divorce petition first, then a ruling obliging the Get, then the damages claim in the Family Court, with both files running in parallel from that point. Filing the tort claim too early invites a ruling that the Rabbinical Court has not yet spoken, and pressing it too hard can generate an argument that any Get later given was coerced. Take Israeli advice on sequencing before serving anything. Our guide to the Get and religious divorce in Israel explains how the two court systems interact.

⚖ In Practice
  • Governing law: Sections 35 and 63, Civil Wrongs Ordinance [New Version]; Rabbinical Courts (Enforcement of Divorce Judgments) Law 5755-1995
  • Competent authority: Family Court (Beit Mishpat LeInyanei Mishpacha) for damages; Rabbinical Court (Beit Din HaRabani) for the Get itself and for sanctions
  • Reported awards: first-instance judgments have ranged from roughly NIS 100,000 to over NIS 700,000, scaled to the length of the refusal
  • Usual precondition: a Rabbinical Court ruling obliging (chiyuv) or compelling (kfiya) the Get
  • Parallel sanctions: seizure of passport and driving licence, restriction of bank accounts, and imprisonment under the 1995 Enforcement Law
  • Limitation: 7 years under the Prescription Law 5718-1958, with each continuing period of refusal treated as fresh harm

From the full guide: The Get: Religious Divorce in Israel

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Get a Free Consultation with Adv. Eli ShimonyPrepared under the direction of Adv. Eli Shimony, Eli Shimony Law Office · Editorial policy

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