Divorced father ordered to pay NIS 102,500 for repeated custody violations

A Tel Aviv Family Court has ordered a divorced man to pay his ex-wife NIS 102,500 after repeatedly violating the agreed parenting schedule for their four children. Judge Iris Arbel-Asl enforced a NIS 500 penalty for each breach and applied it to 155 violations, also adding NIS 25,000 in legal costs.

The parents have been in litigation for more than a decade. In 2019, after the father cited work constraints, the court accepted his request to reduce contact to four hours midweek plus overnight visits every second weekend. As part of that arrangement, both sides agreed that any violation of the schedule would trigger a NIS 500 fine.

In March 2021, the mother, represented by attorney Mirav Sofer, sought payment for 176 alleged violations over roughly three years. She said her former husband continued missing visits even after court warnings, and that he did not see the problem despite having asked for the reduced schedule himself. The father, represented by attorney Sagit Shami, called the suit petty, delayed, and filed in bad faith. He argued that he wanted flexibility, paid high child support, took the children on expensive outings, and suggested the WhatsApp messages supporting the claim were fabricated or dictated to the children.

Judge Arbel-Asl accepted the mother’s records because the father offered no contrary evidence and court reports supported them. One report said he “does not serve as a point of contact for his children” and that there were “many cancellations” on his part. She noted that even when he did meet them, the visits lasted only two or three hours instead of four. Most of the claimed breaches were upheld, except for a few days connected to a car accident involving the father and his mother, when he had to care for her. The court said the fine was meant to protect the custody arrangement itself, not compensate the mother for extra costs.