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Inheritance & Probate

Who pays the legal costs when a challenge to an Israeli will fails?

Usually the losing objector, not the estate. Israeli courts decide costs under the Civil Procedure Regulations 5779-2018, and the ordinary rule is that the party who loses pays the winner's expenses plus a contribution toward attorney's fees. A Family Court hearing an objection filed under Section 67 of the Succession Law 5725-1965 can order those costs personally against the objector instead of charging them to the estate. Awards in contested will cases commonly land between NIS 15,000 and NIS 60,000, and an objector living abroad may also be required to post security for costs before the case is heard.

An objection to a will starts at the Registrar of Inheritance Affairs, where any interested party may file within the period stated in the published notice. Once it is filed the Registrar loses authority to issue the order and transfers the whole file to the Family Court, which then hears the matter as a full civil action with pleadings, affidavits, expert evidence and cross-examination. Costs are decided only at the end, when judgment is delivered. The court weighs the outcome, the conduct of each side, whether the objection had any evidentiary basis at all, and whether the litigation was proportionate to the value of the estate.

For a foreign heir this changes the arithmetic of whether to fight. Losing a will contest means paying your own Israeli lawyer and a court-fixed contribution to the winner's fees, and that award is a money judgment enforceable through the Execution Office against any Israeli asset you hold, including your own share of the same estate. Because objectors frequently live abroad with nothing attachable in Israel, the other side often asks the court to order security for costs at the outset. Courts do temper costs where the will was genuinely ambiguous or the testator's own conduct invited the dispute, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

⚖ In Practice
  • Governing law: Section 67, Succession Law 5725-1965 (objections); costs and attorney's fees under the Civil Procedure Regulations 5779-2018
  • Competent authority: Registrar of Inheritance Affairs (Rasham HaYerushot), then the Family Court (Beit Mishpat LeInyanei Mishpacha)
  • Typical costs award: approximately NIS 15,000 to NIS 60,000 against a losing objector in a contested will case (2026), rising sharply in high-value estates
  • Security for costs: an objector resident abroad with no Israeli assets can be ordered to deposit a guarantee, commonly NIS 20,000 to NIS 50,000, before the case proceeds
  • Timeline: a contested will file typically runs 18 to 36 months from transfer to the Family Court through to judgment

From the full guide: Contesting a Will in Israel: Grounds, Process and Realistic Outcomes

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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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