Legal services

FAQs – Private Limited Companies in Israel (Part III – Information available about companies online, procedure for changing company name / discharging charge) What information can I obtain from the online company register held by the Registrar of Companies?   Information that can be obtained from the online company register includes the name of a company, the type of company, address, legal status and purpose of the company. Additional information (contained in a company abstract – or Nesach Chevra), such as … Continued

Israeli Power of Attorney Posted on December 28, 2012 by Deborah Opolion-Elovic, Adv.   A power of attorney is a document that you sign, authorizing another person – often your Israeli lawyer to take legal action, on your behalf. There are 4 types of Israeli power of attorney forms: Specific Power of Attorney If you need an Israeli lawyer to handle an Israeli probate matter, set up an Israeli company or represent you in an Israeli Court, you’ll need to sign a specific … Continued

What Will and What Will Not Constitute Ha-ra’at Te’naim (a deterioration in an employee’s terms and conditions of employment) ? “A person who has been employed continuously for one year… by the same employer or at the same place of employment and has been dismissed is entitled to receive severance pay (pitzuyei piturin) from the employer who has dismissed him.” Section 1(a), Israeli Severance Pay Law, 5723-1963   “Where an employee resigns by reason of an appreciable deterioration of his … Continued

A chevra meshakanet (a “housing corporation” or “settlement company”) is a large public building company that exists in Israel, which has constructed large numbers of dwelling units and temporarily registered them in an quasi (mini) land registry.   This legal arrangement is prevalent in newly constructed or about to be constructed residential buildings. For example, an apartment may have been purchased “on paper” from a building contractor (kablan) or entrepreneur (yazam). In such a case, the builder will normally have … Continued

Once the purchase contract for your new home is signed and the down payment has been made, the first action to be taken by the lawyer representing you is to register a “cautionary note.” This is a note registered in the Land Registry, or the Israel Land Administration – the Minhal, to warn/alert any prospective purchaser (to whom the seller might, conceivably, try and resell the property, following the signing of the contract) that a purchase contract has been signed … Continued

  Betterment tax (hetel hashbacha) is a levy payable to the local planning authorities by an owner or long-term leaseholder of a property, under Israel’s Planning and Building Law.   If, since the seller originally purchased the apartment, the planning authorities have adopted a new zoning plan allowing greater use of the property or additional building rights, or if the seller submitted a request and was granted additional building rights or other benefits affecting the value of the apartment – … Continued

Some 93% of land in Israel is in the public domain; that is, it is either property of the State, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) or the Development Authority (Reshut HaPituach – the body which was established in 1950 to manage lands entrusted with the Trustee for Absentee Properties After the War of Independence).  The Israel Land Administration (ILA) is the government agency responsible for managing this land which comprises approx. 22 million dunams. “Ownership” of real estate in Israel … Continued

You are about to rent an apartment. A person purporting to represent the landlord presents you with a single sheet of paper and shows you where to sign on the dotted line (“it’s just standard wording,” he assures you). What should you look out for to protect your interests?   Proper power of attorney and absentee landlord First, insist on seeing an original Power of Attorney document, to verify that the agent has actual authority to sign a rental contract … Continued

You are about to rent an apartment. A person purporting to represent the landlord presents you with a single sheet of paper and shows you where to sign on the dotted line (“it’s just standard wording,” he assures you). What should you look out for to protect your interests? In Part I of this article, we discussed the issues of obtaining a valid power of attorney in the case of an absentee landlord; the importance of making an inspection of … Continued

Several people recently asked me: What happens if I don’t make a Will? There are at least 5 worrying answers to this question: Without a properly drawn up Will: Your widow will receive only 50% of your assets – while the additional 50% will be distributed amongst your children (can you be sure 50% of your assets will cover all your widow’s needs?) You will not be able to appoint guardians to take care of your children, should you and … Continued