Is a divorce from an Israeli rabbinical court recognised in England and Wales?

The question almost never arrives on its own. It arrives attached to a remarriage booked at a register office in Hendon, a probate application where the executor cannot say whether the deceased was married, or a passport renewal where the name history does not line up. Whether England treats the Israeli divorce as real then stops being theoretical.

---

Detailed Answer

Divorce between Jews in Israel runs through the regional rabbinical courts under the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law 5713-1953, which gives them exclusive authority over the marriage and divorce of Jews in Israel who are nationals or residents, with an amendment passed in 2021 extending that reach to certain couples abroad who cannot obtain a get where they live. The husband delivers the get before the court, the court records the delivery, and a divorce certificate (teudat gerushin) issues. England looks at that through Part II of the Family Law Act 1986. Section 46(1) recognises an overseas divorce obtained by means of proceedings where two conditions hold: the divorce is effective under the law of the country in which it was obtained, and at the relevant date, which Section 46(3) fixes as the date the proceedings commenced, either party was habitually resident in that country, domiciled in it, or a national of it. A rabbinical court get is comfortably "by means of proceedings", and the nationality limb does the heavy lifting for the couples we act for, because a husband and wife living in Golders Green who both hold Israeli passports satisfy it without ever having lived in Israel.

Two traps ruin otherwise valid divorces, and both are geographic. Section 44(1) provides that no divorce obtained in the British Islands is recognised unless granted by a court of civil jurisdiction, which means a get arranged before the London Beth Din has no effect at all on English marital status however impeccable it is religiously. The second trap is the transnational get, where the document is written or authorised in one country and delivered in another. In Berkovits v Grinberg [1995] Fam 142 a get written in London and given in Israel was refused recognition, and the reasoning still governs: the proceedings must be located in a single country. Section 51(3) adds discretionary refusal grounds where a spouse had no reasonable opportunity to take part or where recognition would be manifestly contrary to public policy, which occasionally surfaces where a wife says she was pressured into accepting the get. Proof in England is documentary rather than registered, because the General Register Office does not record overseas divorces; you produce the Israeli certificate apostilled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, with a certified English translation where the receiving body asks for one. Obtaining a replacement certificate from abroad is a separate exercise covered in our answer on getting an Israeli divorce certificate from abroad, and the mirror-image question of whether Israel accepts an English decree absolute is dealt with in our answer on foreign divorce decrees and remarriage in Israel.

In Practice: Recognition rests on Section 46(1) of the Family Law Act 1986, and the evidential exhibit is the teudat gerushin apostilled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem for NIS 35, issued the same day at the Jerusalem counter or in 2 to 6 weeks where an Israeli lawyer orders it under an apostilled power of attorney. A certified English translation typically costs NIS 250 to NIS 600 depending on length. Where a register office or HM Passport Office queries the divorce, a declaration of recognition under Section 55 of the 1986 Act can be sought in the Family Court, which takes 4 to 9 months and is worth avoiding by getting the paperwork right first. Retrieving the underlying file from the Rabbinical Courts Administration (Hanhalat Batei HaDin HaRabaniyim) adds a further 4 to 10 weeks.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• The get was written or authorised outside Israel and delivered inside it, or the reverse. That is the Berkovits problem, and the cure is normally a fresh get properly located in one jurisdiction, not an argument about the old one.
• You are about to remarry in England and the register office has raised a query. Proceeding on an assumption that the Israeli divorce is recognised risks a marriage that is void, with consequences for inheritance and immigration that outlast everyone's patience.
• Financial claims were never resolved. English courts can entertain financial relief after an overseas divorce under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984, but permission is required and the window is not indefinite.

---

Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We confirm what the Israeli rabbinical court file actually records, obtain and apostille the divorce certificate, and coordinate with your English solicitor where a register office, probate registry or passport application has put the recognition question in issue.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.