Can grandparents living in France ask an Israeli court for contact with their grandchildren in Israel?

French law has recognised a grandparent's relationship with a grandchild for decades, and French clients tend to assume the same instinct exists everywhere. Israeli law got there later and by a narrower door. Until 2012 a grandparent could ask an Israeli court about contact only where the grandchild's own parent had died. That changed, but the route into court is procedurally unusual and a demande drafted the way it would be in Nice will be sent back.

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Detailed Answer

Two sections of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law 5722-1962 do the work. Section 28A is the older provision: where a parent of a minor has died, the court may, if it considers it to be in the minor's interest, decide on an application by the deceased parent's own parents regarding contact with the child. That covers the classic case of a widowed son- or daughter-in-law who cuts off the late spouse's family. Section 28B, inserted by Amendment No. 17 of 2012, is the general one. It allows the court to decide, again if it sees fit, on an application by a parent's parents regarding contact with the minor, with no requirement that anyone has died. What the amendment did not do is create a right. Nothing in either section entitles a grandparent to contact; both give the court a discretion exercised on the child's welfare, and Israeli judges apply it with real caution where the application would drag a child into an adult quarrel. Section 28B(b) then sets the procedure, and it is the part that surprises foreign lawyers: the application is not issued as an ordinary claim but is filed as a request for dispute resolution and directed to the assistance unit attached to the court. Under the Law for the Settlement of Disputes in Family Matters 5775-2014 the parties are then summoned to up to four information, acquaintance and coordination meetings, all of which must take place within 45 days of filing, extendable once by a further 15 days. During the 60-day period, or 75 days if extended, neither side may file a substantive claim in any forum. The meetings at the assistance unit are free of charge and are conducted by social workers rather than judges. Only if the process ends without agreement does the matter move to a hearing before the Family Court where the minor lives.

Running this from France is workable but the sequencing matters. You will need an Israeli lawyer instructed under a power of attorney signed before a French notary and apostilled; since 1 May 2025 French apostilles are issued by the regional notarial chambers rather than the courts of appeal, and they are free. Documents in French, including any French court order or a livret de famille, need a notarial translation into Hebrew, which runs NIS 251 for the first hundred words and NIS 197 for each additional hundred. Assistance-unit meetings can generally be attended by video, and this is worth insisting on early rather than asking for an adjournment later, because a grandparent who does not appear at the MAHUT sessions gives the other side an easy narrative. Think hard about what order you are actually asking for. A realistic application from abroad is not fortnightly contact; it is a structured pattern of video calls plus contact during defined visits to Israel, and an Israeli court is far more likely to make that order than an open-ended one. Where the underlying dispute is really about the child having been brought to or removed from Israel, that is the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention rather than Section 28B, and the two should never be run together. Enforcement of a contact order made by an Israeli Family Court is a matter for that court, and cross-border family orders generally travel poorly, a problem our answer on enforcing a foreign child support order in Israel illustrates from the other direction.

In Practice: Section 28B of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law 5722-1962 lets a grandparent apply for a contact decision, and Section 28B(b) requires it to be filed as a request for dispute resolution directed to the assistance unit of the Family Court where the child lives. Under the Law for the Settlement of Disputes in Family Matters 5775-2014 up to four meetings are held within 45 days, extendable once by 15 days, with a filing bar of 60 to 75 days, and the unit charges nothing. Where the file goes on to a contested hearing, allow 6 to 12 months, with notarial translation of French documents at NIS 251 for the first hundred words and NIS 197 per hundred thereafter.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• The grandchild's parent has died and the surviving parent has stopped all contact. Section 28A gives you a stronger and better-established footing than Section 28B, and the application should be pleaded under it.
• There is an existing Israeli custody or divorce file between the parents. A grandparent's request lands inside a live dispute, and filing it without knowing what is already before that judge can damage the position of the parent you are aligned with.
• You are being asked to fund the grandchildren or to hold assets for them alongside the contact question. Support and contact are separate matters in Israeli law, and money offered to secure access tends to be read against the grandparent rather than for them.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We file the request for dispute resolution, represent grandparents at the assistance unit by video from abroad, and shape a contact order that a family living in France can actually keep.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.