Inheritance Fight Ends, Son to Receive Hundreds of Millions

An inheritance dispute between two of a deceased woman’s brothers and her son has ended with a ruling awarding hundreds of millions of shekels to the son and her two granddaughters. This came despite the mother having previously disinherited him in her will and left her estate to her two brothers.

The court rejected the brothers’ objections to the deceased woman’s last will, in which she bequeathed all of her assets to her son. The assets include apartments, shops, a historic building in Tel Aviv, a shareholding partnership, and more. The son and granddaughters were represented by attorney Boaz Kraus and attorney Noa Binder-Steinberg.

Three different wills were discussed in the proceedings. In the first will, from 1994, the deceased woman instructed that all of her property be left to her brothers, and if they were no longer alive, to their children. That will explicitly stated that in any case her son and husband would not inherit any part of her estate, apparently against the backdrop of a dispute and in light of allegations raised during the proceedings that the deceased woman discovered that her husband and son had used her money and assets. Following this, it was alleged, the deceased woman and her husband divorced, and contact between her and the plaintiff was severed.

The son of the deceased woman argued that במשך many years he and his father were completely excluded from everything involving the family assets, and that her brothers prevented them from receiving information about the property. He also argued that the deceased woman was exposed to embezzlement of the joint funds she shared with her brothers, and that the brothers turned her against her husband and son. According to him, this allowed his mother’s brothers to take control and exclude him from her life. Later, following the birth of his daughter, he said, the relationship between him and his mother was renewed, and then the brothers worked to have the deceased woman sign another will. Like the previous will, the second will also left all of the deceased woman’s property to her brothers and not to her son.

The assets were transferred to the son as a result of a third will, after an administrator was appointed for the deceased woman following a fall and physical injury. In that 2007 will, the deceased woman arrived with a handwritten document in which she bequeathed all of her property to the plaintiff, her son, and to her two granddaughters. The son said that from 2000 onward, his relationship with his mother became warm. According to him, during that period he continued to be a devoted son to his mother and accompanied her to medical appointments, while his relationship with the brothers was weak.

Regarding the third will, the brothers argued that it had been drawn up by a woman who had been declared legally incapacitated, was entirely passive, and did not take an active part in its drafting, and therefore the will was invalid.

The court: The last will is the controlling one

The court ruled that the third will is the operative one, because the brothers failed to prove the grounds for objecting to its probate. In light of the testimony of the will’s drafter, the court found that the deceased woman was able to understand the nature of the will. The court also heard additional testimony, in which it found important indications regarding her ability to express her wishes in writing and orally, including on financial matters.

“The case concerns a deceased woman who was not knowledgeable in property matters, and therefore needed to rely on the defendants and the plaintiff to carry out the drafting of her wills,” the court said. “I found that the will reflects the deceased woman’s wishes and the picture of her life regarding her preference for her son and granddaughters, with whom she had a close emotional relationship.”

According to the court, it found that “this is a reasonable and logical will, consistent with the deceased woman’s way of life and her wish to leave her property to the family members closest to her,” against the background of the distance from the brothers.