Court Awards Man Half of Home After 31-Year Unmarried Relationship

A retired Israeli Ministry of Education employee has been awarded 50% ownership of a home he shared with his former partner for over three decades, after their relationship ended. The couple lived together as common-law partners for 31 years, from 1992 to 2023, without marrying and maintaining separate finances. They purchased a home in Ashkelon in 2000, initially registering it in both names. In 2007, they sold that property and used the proceeds to buy a new house in the same city, which was registered solely in the woman's name.

Following their separation in 2023, the man claimed he was entitled to half the house, arguing that the registration solely in his ex-partner's name was based on a trust, as he was told there were temporary reasons preventing his name from being added. He presented evidence that he solely paid off the mortgage on the house from November 2011 until its full repayment in June 2020. He stated he agreed to the sole registration based on legal advice and trust in his partner.

The woman, a retired psychotherapist, countered that she funded most of the purchase and that the sole registration was a correction for a previous property she had to register in his name under pressure. She claimed the man's mortgage payments were akin to discounted rent, and he received services like laundry, cleaning, and food in return.

The court, however, sided with the man. The judge noted the couple's long-term cohabitation, their declaration to the National Insurance Institute referring to each other as grandparents to their grandchildren, and the fact that mortgage payments increase equity, which is inconsistent with sole ownership. The judge also found support for the man's claim in mutual wills they signed in 2012, stipulating that his share of the house would pass to him upon her death. The woman's subsequent unilateral change to the will in 2019, without informing him, further strengthened the court's suspicion that she acknowledged his ownership stake. The court dismissed the lawyer's testimony supporting the woman's version, deeming it contradictory, and found the man's account consistent. Ultimately, the court declared the man a 50% owner of the home, ruling the woman's refusal to transfer his share was bad faith. The woman was ordered to pay reduced court costs of NIS 15,000.