I divorced in Israel years ago and now live in the UK. How do I get a copy of the Israeli divorce certificate?

The document people are looking for is a teudat gerushin, and it was handed over across a counter in Tel Aviv, Haifa or Jerusalem on the day the get was given. Nobody keeps it. Twenty years later a registrar in Barnet or a solicitor handling a remarriage asks for it, and the search starts in the wrong place, usually at the Israeli embassy, which does not hold it and cannot issue it.

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Detailed Answer

Jewish marriage and divorce in Israel sit with the rabbinical courts under Section 1 of the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law 5713-1953, and it is the regional court that arranged the get which holds the file and issues the certificate. There is no central archive open to the public, so the first task is identifying the court: if you married and lived in Netanya the file is almost certainly in the Tel Aviv or Netanya regional court, and the Rabbinical Courts Administration (Hanhalat Batei HaDin HaRabaniim) can trace it from names, identity numbers and an approximate date. A general application to the court secretariat, submitted online through the rabbinical courts service on gov.il or on paper, produces a certified copy against payment of the statutory fee. Where records are old or the parties' details have changed, expect the secretariat to ask for identification and, if someone other than a party is applying, a power of attorney. Separately, the divorce should appear as a registered particular of personal status under Section 2 of the Population Registry Law 5725-1965, and the registry extract is prima facie evidence of it under Section 3. Those two records diverge more often than they should, which is the subject of our answer on obtaining a population registry extract from abroad.

Three things make this harder from London than it looks. First, the secretariat generally will not email a certified copy overseas, so somebody in Israel has to collect it, which in practice means an Israeli lawyer instructed under a notarised power of attorney apostilled at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in Milton Keynes. Second, the certificate is in Hebrew and carries an Israeli identity number, so an English registrar or HM Passport Office will need an apostille and a translation, and a translation certified by an Israeli notary is accepted far more readily than an unsworn one. Third, holding the certificate is not the same as the divorce being recognised in England. Recognition of an overseas divorce obtained by means of proceedings is governed by Part II of the Family Law Act 1986, and turns on whether either party was habitually resident, domiciled or a national of Israel at the relevant time, which is normally satisfied for a couple who divorced there but is not automatic for a couple who flew in only for the get. If your registry entry still shows you as married, or you need proof of current status rather than proof of the divorce, that is a different document, covered in our answer on an Israeli single status certificate from abroad.

In Practice: The certificate is issued under the jurisdiction conferred by Section 1 of the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law 5713-1953 and the corresponding entry is a registered particular under Section 2 of the Population Registry Law 5725-1965. Allow 2 to 6 weeks from application to a certified copy at the regional Rabbinical Court secretariat, plus NIS 35 for the apostille issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, which is the correct authority for a document issued by an Israeli public body rather than the Magistrate Court registrar. A notarial translation costs NIS 251 for the first page under the Notaries Fees Regulations 1977. Where a file has to be traced through the Rabbinical Courts Administration because the court or the date is unknown, add 4 to 10 weeks.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• You are remarrying in England or Wales and the registrar has referred the papers to the General Register Office. That referral is a recognition question under the Family Law Act 1986, not a documents question, and sending another copy of the certificate will not resolve it.
• The Israeli population registry still records you as married. Correcting personal status from abroad requires the court record to be produced to the Population and Immigration Authority, and until it is, every extract you order will repeat the error.
• The divorce involved property or maintenance and the other party is now claiming the Israeli order was never final. A certificate proves the get was given, not that ancillary orders were complied with, and the two are litigated separately.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We identify which regional rabbinical court holds your file, obtain the certified copy under a power of attorney so you do not have to travel, and return it apostilled and translated in the form an English registrar or the Passport Office will accept.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.