How do heirs living abroad transfer or sell a deceased relative's car in Israel?

The apartment gets attention and the bank account gets attention. The car sits in the same parking space it has occupied for years, quietly collecting fines, losing its annual test, and depreciating faster than anything else in the estate. Families abroad tend to reach it last, and by then a vehicle worth NIS 40,000 has become a vehicle worth NIS 28,000 with a debt attached.

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Detailed Answer

A vehicle registered to the deceased is estate property, so the Licensing Bureau (Misrad HaRishui) will not touch it on a death certificate alone. The gateway is an Israeli succession order (צו ירושה) where there was no will, or a probate order (צו קיום צוואה) where there was one, issued by the Inheritance Registrar (Rasham HaYerushot) at the Ministry of Justice. With the order in hand the change of ownership is registered under Regulation 285 of the Traffic Regulations 5721-1961, and the Ministry of Transport's Procedure 1/2018 on registering vehicle ownership by inheritance governs what the counter clerk actually asks for: originals of the death certificate and the order, identification, and an advocate's affidavit confirming who is entitled to the vehicle. Two features of that procedure are worth money. An inheritance transfer is exempt from the ordinary ownership transfer fee, and it does not count as an additional yad, the owner number that Israeli buyers use as a proxy for value, so a car that passes through an estate is not marked down for it. The trade-off is rigidity: this transaction cannot be done through the online service or at the post office bank counter, both of which handle ordinary sales. Someone has to stand at a branch with original paper.

For heirs who live abroad that someone is an Israeli lawyer acting under a specific power of attorney, notarised locally and apostilled, naming the vehicle by registration number. Do not send a generic general power; Licensing Bureau clerks reject anything that does not identify the car and the authority to sign transfer forms. Where the heirs intend to sell rather than keep, the sensible move is to register the transfer straight from the estate to the purchaser once all the heirs have signed, which saves a second visit and a second set of forms. Everything that runs on a calendar keeps running in the meantime. The annual licence fee (agrat rishui) and the roadworthiness test fall due whether or not anyone has probated the will, and an expired test makes the car unsaleable and untowable without extra permits. Compulsory insurance (bituach chova) is the sharper risk: a policy in a dead person's name is a problem the moment anyone moves the vehicle, and a typical private car policy runs in the region of NIS 1,500 to NIS 2,500 a year to reinstate. Municipal parking and arnona enforcement continue as well, which is why the vehicle is usually the first estate asset we ask a family to deal with rather than the last. The wider sequence for handling the estate from overseas is set out in our guide on administering an Israeli estate from abroad, and the rules for a foreigner buying and registering a car in Israel in the first place are covered in our answer on buying and registering a car in Israel as a non-resident.

In Practice: The succession order application at the Inheritance Registrar (Rasham HaYerushot) costs roughly NIS 520 online plus about NIS 130 for the statutory publication, and an uncontested file with heirs abroad issues in 3 to 6 months. Registration under Regulation 285 of the Traffic Regulations 5721-1961 is then done in a single Licensing Bureau visit, usually within 1 to 2 weeks of an appointment, and Procedure 1/2018 waives the ordinary transfer fee and the extra owner count. A notarised power of attorney costs NIS 251 for the first page under the Notaries Fees Regulations 1977 before apostille, and a lapsed compulsory insurance policy typically costs NIS 1,500 to NIS 2,500 a year to put back in place.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• The car is leased, financed, or carries a registered pledge in favour of a bank or importer. The Licensing Bureau will not register any transfer while the charge stands, and clearing it usually means settling the balance out of estate funds that have not yet been released.
• The deceased was the registered owner but a relative had been driving and insuring the car for years. Claims of gift or beneficial ownership surface exactly at this point, and paying them off informally before the succession order issues exposes the heir who paid.
• There is an open traffic offence, an accident file, or an unpaid Execution Office debt attached to the vehicle. Those follow the plate, not the person, and a buyer's lawyer will find them the day before completion.

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Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We obtain the succession or probate order, draft the specific power of attorney the Licensing Bureau will accept, attend the branch, and where the family wants a clean exit we register the transfer directly to a buyer so the car never has to sit in an heir's name.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.