Australian Executor of an Israeli Estate: A Practical Guide

A retired engineer in Melbourne is named executor in his late brother's Australian will. The estate looks straightforward until the bank statements arrive: alongside the Australian accounts sits a two-bedroom apartment in Netanya and a dormant Israeli bank account opened decades ago. The Supreme Court of Victoria grants probate within weeks. Then the Israeli bank writes back to say the grant means nothing to them.

This is the moment most Australian executors discover that an Israeli estate is a separate legal project, not an annex to the Australian one. The two systems do not talk to each other automatically, and the bridge between them has to be built deliberately, from Australia, in Hebrew. What follows is how that bridge gets built, and where executors most often stumble.

For the underlying mechanics of the Israeli side, our complete guide to Israeli probate sets out the order types in detail. This article focuses on the Australian executor's position specifically.

Why an Australian Grant Does Not Work in Israel

Resealing is the instinct of every Australian probate lawyer, and it is the wrong instinct here. The state succession statutes let an Australian court reseal a grant issued by a court in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and other listed jurisdictions, so the foreign grant operates as if made locally. Israel sits entirely outside that scheme. It never belonged to the British probate world after 1948, and it does not reseal foreign grants in either direction.

So the Victorian or New South Wales grant in the executor's hand has no force over the Netanya apartment. What Israel requires instead is its own order, issued by its own authority:

• If the deceased left a will, the executor applies for a will execution order (צו קיום צוואה, tzav kiyum tzavaa).
• If there was no will, the application is for a succession order (צו ירושה, tzav yerusha), which identifies the legal heirs under the statutory order of succession.

Both are issued by the Registrar of Inheritance (Rasham HaYerushot) at the Ministry of Justice. The Australian grant is not useless. It is useful evidence, and it helps establish who the executor is. But it is supporting material for an Israeli application, not a substitute for one.

In Practice: Under Sections 66 and 67 of the Succession Law 1965, the application goes to the Registrar of Inheritance, who publishes notice and allows a two-week objection window before issuing the order. The state filing fee is roughly NIS 516 plus a publication fee of about NIS 130. For an uncontested estate, expect three to six months from a complete submission; if the deceased was domiciled in Australia rather than Israel, the Registrar usually transfers the file to the Family Court, adding two to four months.

Which Law Governs the Israeli Assets

Australian executors often assume the deceased's domicile decides everything. It does not, and the distinction matters most for real estate.

Section 137 of the Succession Law 1965 sets the general rule: succession follows the law of the deceased's domicile at death. That points back to Australia for the broad question of who inherits. But Section 138 carves out immovable property. Real estate physically located in Israel is governed by Israeli law where Israeli law claims mandatory application, which it does for land. The practical result is a split estate. An Australian will may dictate the destination of the Australian house and shares, while the Netanya apartment is processed under Israeli rules and registered through the Israeli order.

This is why a will that was perfectly valid in Australia still has to clear an Israeli will execution order before the Land Registry (Tabu) will change the name on the title. The Israeli system does not take the Australian court's word for it. It re-examines the will under its own validity standards and issues its own order.

Documents the Australian Executor Must Prepare

Every document crossing from Australia to Israel needs two things: an apostille and a certified Hebrew translation. Australia and Israel are both parties to the Hague Apostille Convention, so the chain is mercifully short. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) apostilles Australian public documents, and no consular legalisation is needed on top.

The core bundle is:

1. The death certificate, issued by the relevant Australian state Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, then apostilled by DFAT.
2. The will, if any, plus the Australian grant of probate, apostilled.
3. Proof of the executor's identity and authority.
4. A power of attorney authorising an Israeli lawyer to file and act.
5. Certified Hebrew translations of each foreign document, prepared by an Israeli notary or court-recognised translator.

A note on the translations: the Registrar wants a notarial translation done in Israel, not a translation certified only in Australia. Sending the apostilled originals to the Israeli lawyer, who arranges translation locally, avoids a rejection and a second courier run.

In Practice: The power of attorney must be signed before a notary public and apostilled by DFAT before it has any standing in Israel. A notarised and apostilled POA prepared in Sydney or Perth typically reaches an Israeli lawyer within five to ten business days by courier. Once it lands, the lawyer can open and run the entire matter electronically with the Registrar of Inheritance, so the executor's single trip to a local notary replaces any need to fly to Tel Aviv.

Releasing the Israeli Bank Account

Dormant and forgotten Israeli accounts surface in a large share of these estates. The bank will not move a shekel on an Australian grant. It needs the Israeli succession or will execution order, the executor's or heirs' identification, and it will run the funds through its anti-money-laundering checks before releasing anything cross-border.

Expect the bank to ask where the money is going and to require the receiving Australian account details in advance. Larger balances draw source-of-funds questions even though the source is plainly an inheritance. None of this is hostility. It is the standard friction a non-resident estate meets, and it resolves with the Israeli order plus patience.

The Australian Tax Side the Executor Cannot Ignore

Here the executor wears two hats at once, and the trap is assuming "no inheritance tax" in both countries means nothing to report.

Israel charges no estate duty. Australia charges no inheritance tax either. But Australian capital gains tax reaches across the estate in a way that catches executors off guard. Where assets pass from a deceased estate to a beneficiary who is a foreign resident, the assets that are not "taxable Australian property" can be treated as disposed of at death for CGT purposes. More commonly relevant to the Melbourne executor: when an Australian-resident beneficiary later sells the inherited Israeli apartment, Australian CGT applies, and the cost base generally takes the market value at the date of death.

That date-of-death valuation is worth getting in writing early. A formal Israeli valuation of the apartment as at the date of death does double duty. It anchors the eventual Australian CGT cost base, and it helps on the Israeli side too.

In Practice: Under Section 26 of the Real Estate Taxation Law 1963, Israel does not grant heirs a step-up. The heir inherits the deceased's original purchase date and price, so betterment tax (mas shevach) on a later sale is calculated from the deceased's acquisition, not from the date of death. On an apartment bought in 1995 for the shekel equivalent of NIS 300,000 and sold for NIS 2.5M, the taxable gain runs from the 1995 figure. The Israel Tax Authority assesses this at sale, and a withholding clearance (ishur) is required before the Land Registry will register the buyer, a step that takes four to eight weeks to obtain.

Where Australian Executors Go Wrong

The single costliest error is procedural, and it is almost always made in good faith.

Common Mistake: Instructing an Australian lawyer to reseal the grant for use in Israel. Israel does not reseal, so the application goes nowhere while fees accrue, and the executor only learns months later that a fresh Israeli filing was needed all along. Starting the Israeli succession or will execution order at the outset, in parallel with the Australian administration, avoids three to four months of dead time and the awkwardness of telling Australian beneficiaries the Israeli leg has not even begun.

A second recurring problem is distributing the Australian estate, closing the file, and only then turning to Israel. Because the Israeli matter can run six months or longer, and because a later sale of inherited Israeli property carries its own tax steps, executors who leave Israel for last often have to reopen issues they thought were settled.

Practical Checklist

• Confirm early whether the deceased left a will valid in Australia, since it determines whether you seek an Israeli will execution order or a succession order.
• Do not attempt to reseal the Australian grant in Israel; file a fresh application with the Registrar of Inheritance instead.
• Order an apostille from DFAT on the death certificate, the will, the grant, and the power of attorney.
• Have Hebrew translations done in Israel by a notary, not certified only in Australia.
• Engage an Israeli lawyer and send a notarised, apostilled power of attorney so the matter runs without you travelling.
• Obtain a date-of-death valuation of any Israeli real estate for the Australian CGT cost base.
• Run the Israeli administration in parallel with the Australian one, not after it.

Speak With an Israeli Attorney

If you are administering an estate from Australia and have discovered Israeli property or accounts, the priority is getting the correct Israeli order on foot quickly and coordinating it with your Australian duties as executor. We handle the Israeli succession or will execution order, the apostille and translation chain, the bank release, and the tax clearance, working from your power of attorney so you stay in Australia throughout.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.