Continuing Power of Attorney in Israel for Non-Residents

You own an apartment in Jerusalem and keep an Israeli bank account for the rent and the odd family expense. You are in good health at sixty-four. Now picture the version of this five or ten years on, after a stroke or an early dementia diagnosis, when you can no longer manage your own affairs. Who signs for that apartment? Who instructs the Israeli bank? Who deals with the property manager, the tax filing, the building committee?

Most non-residents assume the durable or lasting power of attorney they signed at home covers it. It generally does not, at least not where Israeli assets are concerned. Israel has its own instrument for exactly this situation, introduced only recently, and it has quietly become one of the fastest-growing legal documents in the country. Understanding it, and its awkward fit with living abroad, is one of the more important pieces of planning a non-resident with Israeli assets can do.

What the Continuing Power of Attorney Actually Is

The continuing power of attorney (yipui koach mitmashech) was created by Amendment 18 to the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law 1962, in force since 2017. Before it existed, an Israeli who lost capacity had essentially one option: a court appointed a guardian. The reform imported the logic of the Anglo-American durable power of attorney into Israeli law, letting a competent adult decide in advance who will manage their affairs, and how, if capacity is later lost.

The uptake has been striking. Around 15,000 of these documents were registered in 2018. By the middle of 2025 the figure had passed 220,000, growing more than 30% a year. For a legal instrument that did not exist a decade ago, that is a remarkable adoption curve, and it reflects a real gap it filled.

The structure is simple in principle. The person granting it, the principal (memaneh), names one or more attorneys-in-fact (meyupei koach) to act for them, sets out what those people may do, and defines the moment the document springs into effect. That moment is usually a determination that the principal can no longer manage the relevant matters, typically evidenced by a medical opinion. Until then the document does nothing; it waits.

This is the key contrast with the ordinary power of attorney a non-resident uses to buy an apartment or handle an estate. That kind of transactional power of attorney works while you are competent and dies the instant you are not. The continuing power of attorney is built to do the opposite.

Why a Foreign Durable Power of Attorney Often Fails Here

Here is the trap. A non-resident who has done responsible estate planning at home — a durable power of attorney in New York, a lasting power of attorney registered with the Office of the Public Guardian in England, an enduring power in Australia — reasonably assumes it will be honored on their Israeli assets. In an incapacity scenario, it usually will not be, or not without a fight the family cannot win quickly.

The problem is not hostility to foreign documents. It is verification and fit. An Israeli bank officer or Land Registry clerk faced with a foreign incapacity document has no way to confirm it is still valid, has not been revoked, and means what it appears to mean under a legal system they do not know. The Israeli continuing power of attorney solves this by living on a central register the institution can check.

In Practice: Under Section 32A of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law 1962, a durable arrangement for someone who has lost capacity operates in Israel through a registered continuing power of attorney or a court guardianship order; an ordinary power of attorney lapses the moment the principal loses capacity. Israeli banks and the Land Registry (Tabu), following Bank of Israel and Ministry of Justice guidance, routinely decline a foreign "lasting" or "durable" power presented after incapacity because they cannot verify it against the Administrator General's (Apotropus Klali) register. A family that discovers this only after a parent's stroke faces a Family Court guardianship application costing NIS 8,000–20,000 and taking 3–9 months for control they could have arranged in advance.

The honest planning answer, then, is not to rely on the home-country document for Israeli assets. It is to put an Israeli continuing power of attorney in place alongside it, so that each jurisdiction's assets are covered by the instrument that jurisdiction actually recognizes.

The Certified-Lawyer Requirement and the Non-Resident Problem

This is where living abroad complicates matters. You cannot simply download an Israeli continuing power of attorney, fill it in, and sign it in front of a notary the way you might a transactional power of attorney.

Israeli law requires that the document be drawn up and signed before an attorney who has completed specific training and certification from the Administrator General for this purpose. Not every Israeli lawyer is certified; it is a distinct qualification. That lawyer must confirm the principal understands the document and is signing of their own free will, must explain the alternatives and consequences, and must have no personal interest in the arrangement. Only then is the document valid, and only after it is deposited with the Administrator General does it take legal effect.

In Practice: A continuing power of attorney is valid only if it is drawn up and signed before an attorney specially certified by the Administrator General (Apotropus Klali) at the Ministry of Justice, and only once it is deposited with that office; a self-drafted version has no effect. Under the continuing power of attorney provisions of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law 1962, the principal must sign in the certified lawyer's presence after the lawyer confirms comprehension, a step Israeli law does not currently permit by video. The deposit fee to the Administrator General is modest at roughly NIS 100–130, while the drafting itself typically runs NIS 1,500–4,500. Registration is generally confirmed within 2–4 weeks of deposit.

For a non-resident that presence requirement is the whole challenge. There are two realistic routes. The first is to sign during a visit to Israel, combining it with a trip you were making anyway, which is how most non-residents handle it. The second is to have a certified Israeli lawyer attend in person where you live; some firms will travel for this, particularly for clients with substantial Israeli assets, though it adds cost. What you cannot do is sign a scanned copy at home and email it in. The comprehension check in front of the certified lawyer is the heart of the safeguard, and Israeli law does not yet treat a video call as a substitute.

Language is the quieter obstacle. The certified lawyer must be satisfied that you understand the document. Where the principal does not read Hebrew, the arrangement is documented in a language the principal understands or with a certified translation, and it is worth choosing a certified lawyer who works comfortably in English precisely so the comprehension requirement is met genuinely rather than formally.

What It Can Cover and What It Cannot

A continuing power of attorney can extend to three broad areas: property and financial matters, personal matters, and medical matters. A non-resident's version usually concentrates on the property and financial side, since that is where the Israeli exposure sits: the apartment, the bank account, the tax filings, the property manager. The medical and personal decisions are more naturally handled where the person actually lives.

You control the detail. You can authorize the attorney-in-fact to manage or even sell the Israeli property, or you can withhold the power of sale. You can require the attorney to consult named family members, to report to someone, or to act only within limits you set. You can name a successor in case your first choice cannot serve. This granularity is a genuine advantage over a court guardianship, where a judge sets the terms rather than you.

There are limits. Certain deeply personal decisions cannot be delegated, and the medical provisions interact with Israel's separate framework for end-of-life choices under the Dying Patient Law 2005, a subject worth coordinating as part of broader end-of-life planning for non-residents. The continuing power of attorney is powerful, but it is not a blank cheque, and a good certified lawyer will map its edges against your foreign documents so the two do not contradict each other.

The Fallback No One Wants: Guardianship

If a non-resident loses capacity without a continuing power of attorney in place, the family is left with the instrument the reform was designed to reduce: guardianship (apotroposut).

A relative applies to the Family Court to be appointed guardian of the incapacitated person's Israeli affairs. The court can appoint, but it also supervises. A guardian must generally file an inventory and periodic accounts with the Administrator General, may need court permission for significant transactions such as selling property, and operates under ongoing oversight designed to protect a vulnerable person. For a family spread across countries, coordinating all of this with an Israeli court from abroad is slow and wearing.

Common Mistake: Non-residents with an Israeli apartment and bank account often assume the durable or lasting power of attorney registered at home will let a spouse or child step in if they lose capacity. At an Israeli bank or the Land Registry, it generally will not. When capacity is already gone, the only route left is a full guardianship application to the Family Court under the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law 1962, bringing ongoing court supervision, annual accounting to the Administrator General (Apotropus Klali), and NIS 8,000–20,000 in initial costs, plus months during which the Israeli assets are effectively frozen. The continuing power of attorney exists to avoid exactly this, but it must be signed while the principal still has capacity.

Guardianship is not a disaster; it is a functioning safety net, and sometimes it is genuinely the right tool, particularly where capacity was lost before any planning was done. But it is reactive, court-driven, and costly, and it hands the design of the arrangement to a judge. The continuing power of attorney is the proactive alternative, and its entire value depends on being put in place early.

Practical Checklist

• Do not assume your home-country durable or lasting power of attorney will cover your Israeli assets after incapacity; for Israeli banks and the Land Registry, it generally will not
• Engage an Israeli lawyer specifically certified by the Administrator General for continuing powers of attorney, not simply any Israeli attorney
• Plan to sign in person, either during a trip to Israel or by arranging a certified lawyer to attend abroad, as video signing is not accepted
• Decide the scope deliberately: which Israeli assets, whether the power of sale is included, who is consulted, and who succeeds if your first choice cannot serve
• Ensure genuine comprehension: use a certified lawyer who works in your language, or a certified translation, so the safeguard is real
• Coordinate the Israeli document with your foreign estate plan and any medical directives so they do not conflict
• Act while you have capacity, because the entire instrument is worthless the day after it is needed

Speak With an Israeli Attorney

Putting a continuing power of attorney in place is not urgent until the day it becomes impossible, which is the reason so many families end up in guardianship court instead. If you hold Israeli property or accounts and want the peace of mind that someone you trust can manage them if you no longer can, the time to arrange it is now, while it is still an option.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation about incapacity planning for your Israeli assets.