Haifa Family Court Grants Office Ownership to Enforce $133,000 Child Support Debt

A Haifa Family Court judge devised a unique solution to help a woman collect approximately 133,000 shekels in unpaid child support from her ex-husband, who left Israel in February 2024 and severed contact with her, their children, and his only remaining relative, his uncle. Judge Liron Zerbal-Kadshai assigned ownership of a 17.3-square-meter office space, inherited by the ex-husband from his grandmother, solely to him. This legal move enables the woman to initiate enforcement proceedings against the property to recover the debt.

The ex-husband was ordered to pay child support for two children based on a 2018 court ruling. The debt accumulated to about 133,000 shekels by the time enforcement proceedings began. However, enforcement was complicated because the inherited property was jointly bequeathed to the ex-husband and his uncle without specifying which office belonged to whom. The court divided the two adjacent offices, differing by only 0.65 square meters, assigning the smaller office to the uncle and the larger one to the ex-husband, allowing the woman to place a lien on the latter to prevent its transfer.

The ex-husband’s whereabouts remain unknown; he changed his name and cut off all contact, with the last communication via WhatsApp from a foreign number in November 2024. The court authorized alternative service of process by publishing notices in three newspapers in the foreign country and sending WhatsApp messages. After these efforts, the court ruled in the woman’s favor by default.

Judge Zerbal-Kadshai clarified that while the ruling grants ownership rights to the ex-husband, it does not directly entitle the woman to payment; she must still pursue legal enforcement to collect the debt. The judge also rejected the woman’s request to label the property transfer as an inheritance event for tax purposes, leaving tax classification to the relevant authorities. The ex-husband was ordered to pay the woman’s legal costs of 5,000 shekels within 30 days, adding to his existing child support debt.

The case highlights the court’s creative approach to enforcing child support debts when the debtor disappears abroad and assets are entangled in inheritance issues. The court canceled a scheduled hearing for October 27 and closed the case following the ruling.