𝟔 𝐃𝐨’𝐬 & 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐢 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥

“Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.”

― Otto von Bismarck

Typically it’s wise to learn from your own mistakes as well, but when it comes to 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 you can 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 learn from those of others…

I explained in previous posts what happens to parents who didn’t write a will for their orphaned minors–the Court is left to appoint a legal guardian 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘱𝘶𝘵–and then shared the main steps necessary for you to help provide the best guardian for your child via the will.

In this post I want to present 𝟲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗼’𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹, culled from the mistakes that have been brought to me to deal with. It would be a big ‘Chaval’, as they say in Israel, for other people to have to go through the same aggravation & financial loss, so please make sure that your will is:

𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 & 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝–you want your will to be understood properly, so don’t confuse or leave any room for different interpretations.
𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐰–if you don’t understand the language well, you should have the will read and translated to you by a Hebrew-fluent lawyer in front of two witnesses. Otherwise, your heirs may need to pay to have it translated, and that can also lead to disputes regarding the exact interpretations of the will.
𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝 𝐈𝐃 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐬–ideally an Israeli ID Number (‘Teudat Zehut’) should be used. When that is not available, I always discuss with my clients the best form of ID for them to use based on their country of citizenship.
𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐔𝐒 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞. Why?
1. A SSN is not considered a valid ID in Israel, especially regarding Real Estate.
2. In general, wills in Israel are probated by the Will Registrar and your will essentially becomes public knowledge–anyone can view and download it for only 5.5 Shekels! Surely, you and your heirs don’t want their SSN out there on the web…
𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬–following from the same reason as above, personal matters should be written in a 𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 paper that will be stored together with your will; this way it will not become available to the public (nor will it be binding) since it’s not part of the actual will itself. And last but not least:
𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬! This goes both for the passports of the testator–from the time s/he owned their first piece of property in Israel, or even just opened an Israeli bank account–and for those of the heirs, in order to prove identity if the passports get renewed by the time that the will is probated.

Write your will properly the first time by learning from the mistakes of others.

Any topic you’d like me to address? Just let me know! y@epsteinlaw.co.il

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