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Does adultery affect the divorce settlement in Israel?

Generally no, for property and money. The civil division of marital assets in Israel follows the Spousal Property Relations Law 5733-1973, which applies a no-fault resource-balancing (izun mashabim) regardless of who caused the breakdown. Adultery does not increase or reduce a spouse's share of jointly accumulated assets. It can have limited effects in the religious court on a wife's ketubah (marriage-contract) claim, and in narrow cases where marital funds were spent on the affair.

Israel runs a dual system for divorce. The civil Family Court applies the Spousal Property Relations Law, under which each spouse is entitled to half the value of the assets accumulated during the marriage, balanced at the point of divorce, without weighing marital fault. Adultery is not a statutory factor in that calculation. The religious courts handle dissolution of the marriage itself and ancillary claims such as the ketubah, the sum a husband contractually undertakes to pay his wife. There, proven adultery by a wife can in principle defeat or reduce her ketubah claim under religious law, while a husband's conduct does not reduce his obligation in the same way.

For foreign couples married in or connected to Israel, the practical takeaway is that hiring a private investigator to prove an affair rarely changes the financial outcome of the asset split. The balancing of resources proceeds on a no-fault basis. Adultery may still matter in two situations: a ketubah claim before the rabbinical court, and, exceptionally, where one spouse dissipated marital funds on the affair, which a civil court can take into account when balancing the assets. Spousal maintenance is needs-based and time-limited, and conduct is not a routine factor. Our guide to the division of assets in an Israeli divorce explains how the balancing works in detail.

⚖ In Practice
  • Governing law: Spousal Property Relations Law 5733-1973 (civil asset division); ketubah claims under religious law
  • Competent authority: Family Court (Beit Mishpat LeMishpacha) for property; Rabbinical Court (Beit Din Rabani) for the ketubah
  • Effect on the asset split: none, the regime is no-fault resource-balancing
  • Possible exception: marital funds dissipated on an affair may be weighed in the balancing
  • Ketubah: proven adultery by a wife can defeat her ketubah claim in the rabbinical court

From the full guide: Division of Assets in an Israeli Divorce

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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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