Divorce in Israel for Non-Resident Couples

A couple who married under a chuppah in Jerusalem twenty years ago now lives in London, has decided to separate, and assumes an English divorce will end it. For the civil side, it will. For the question of whether either of them can later remarry in a Jewish ceremony, it will not, because a Jewish marriage is dissolved in the eyes of Israeli law only by a get, the religious bill of divorce, and no London court can order one.

Divorce touching Israel is really two questions stacked on top of each other: the religious dissolution, which only a rabbinical court and the parties themselves can complete, and the civil consequences, money, property, children, which can be spread across two countries. For a non-resident couple, getting the sequence and the forum right matters more than in almost any other family situation.

Who Can Divorce Through an Israeli Court

Israel has no civil marriage or civil divorce for Jewish couples. Under Section 1 of the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law 5713-1953, the rabbinical courts (batei din) hold exclusive jurisdiction over the marriage and divorce of Jews who are nationals or residents of the state. There is no secular alternative for the act of divorce itself.

That single fact shapes everything for a foreign couple. If you were married as Jews, the marriage cannot be ended for Israeli purposes by a civil court anywhere, only by a get. Where that get is arranged, in Israel or before a recognised religious court abroad, depends on where the couple is connected.

When an Israeli Court Has Jurisdiction Over a Couple Abroad

An Israeli rabbinical court will not take a case simply because the wedding happened in Israel. Section 4A of the 1953 Law lists the connecting factors that let it hear a divorce between spouses living abroad, and each one turns on residence or citizenship rather than on where you married. Broadly, jurisdiction can arise where the respondent lives in Israel; where the petitioner lives in Israel and has done so for a set period before filing; where the couple's last shared home was in Israel; or where the petitioner is an Israeli citizen meeting a residence condition. Adjudication also generally requires that the respondent be lawfully served in Israel or be present there when the case is filed.

A 2021 amendment widened the picture, allowing an Israeli court to help dissolve a Jewish marriage where the couple cannot obtain a get through a religious court abroad. That was aimed squarely at diaspora couples stuck without a functioning local beit din.

For couples with real Israeli citizenship or residence on one side, the Israeli route is often available and sometimes preferable. For a couple with neither, the honest answer is usually that the get is arranged where they live, and the Israeli court's role is narrow. This is a point to establish at the very start, because filing in the wrong forum wastes months.

In Practice: A divorce action in the rabbinical court is opened under Section 4A of the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law 5713-1953, with a filing fee of about NIS 568 for a standard claim, or roughly NIS 119 to have the court approve an agreed divorce settlement. Where the parties are cooperative and bring a signed agreement, the beit din can complete the divorce in about 2 to 4 months. A non-resident spouse must still attend in person for the get ceremony itself, or appoint an agent (shaliach) to give or receive the get, which the court supervises closely.

The Get: What Actually Ends the Marriage

The get is not paperwork a judge signs. It is an act between the spouses: the husband gives the bill of divorce, the wife receives it, and a rabbinical panel confirms that both did so freely and without coercion. Only at that moment is the marriage dissolved under Israeli law. A court can order a husband to give a get, and can pressure him, but the traditional requirement that he act of his own will is what gives get refusal its power to trap.

For a couple abroad, the logistics are the hard part. Someone has to be physically present. Where one spouse cannot travel to Israel, the get can be arranged through an agent under rabbinical supervision, or the whole ceremony can be held before a recognised beit din in the couple's own country and then registered. Coordinating this across time zones, with documents that must be apostilled and translated, is where a cross-border divorce slows down.

Once done, the Israeli side issues a divorce certificate (teudat gerushin). If you need that certificate for the authorities in your home country, see our guide to obtaining an Israeli divorce certificate from abroad.

When a Spouse Refuses the Get

Because the marriage ends only when the get is given and received, a spouse who refuses can hold the other hostage. A wife left in this position, unable to remarry, is an agunah, a "chained" spouse. Israeli law has built real teeth to deal with refusers.

The Rabbinical Courts (Enforcement of Divorce Judgments) Law 5755-1995 lets a court that has ordered a divorce impose escalating sanctions on a party who refuses to comply: an order barring departure from Israel, freezing bank accounts, revoking a driver's or professional licence, and, at the far end, imprisonment until the get is given. These are among the strongest civil pressures any legal system applies to a purely religious act.

Their weakness is jurisdictional. A refuser who lives abroad and never sets foot in Israel is largely out of reach of an exit ban or a frozen Israeli account. This is the recurring tragedy of the cross-border case, and it is why counsel often works to secure the get while the reluctant spouse still has assets or travel plans that bring Israel within reach, rather than after they have settled permanently overseas.

Dividing Israeli Property and Money

The religious divorce and the financial settlement are separate tracks, and they can be heard in different courts and even different countries. In Israel, property between spouses is governed by the Spouses (Property Relations) Law 5733-1973. Its default regime is resource balancing (izun mashabim): on divorce, the value accumulated during the marriage is equalised, while pre-marriage assets, gifts and inheritances are generally excluded unless they were commingled.

Where the couple's civil divorce is happening abroad, an Israeli apartment does not divide itself. A foreign order dividing property does not automatically bind land in Israel; it usually has to be recognised here under the Foreign Judgments Enforcement Law 5718-1958, or the Israeli asset has to be dealt with in a separate Israeli proceeding. In the meantime, a protective note at the Land Registry can stop one spouse selling the flat out from under the other. If a prior marital agreement is in play, our discussion of how a marriage contract interacts with Israeli property law sets out how foreign regimes are treated.

In Practice: A claim to divide Israeli marital property is brought under Section 5 of the Spouses (Property Relations) Law 5733-1973, most often in the Family Court, which charges a civil fee of about 2.5 percent of the sum claimed, roughly NIS 50,000 on a NIS 2 million claim, payable in stages. A contested financial case commonly runs 12 to 24 months. A non-resident can conduct much of it through Israeli counsel and, increasingly, give evidence by video, but the fee and the timeline are the same as for a resident.

Where children are involved and one parent has taken a child to Israel, a wholly different and urgent body of law applies. That is covered in our guide to the Hague Convention when a child is taken to Israel.

A Mistake That Follows People for Years

The error that causes the most lasting harm is treating a foreign civil divorce as the end of the story.

Common Mistake: A couple who married as Jews obtains a civil divorce abroad and never arranges a get, believing the marriage is fully over. For Israeli purposes it is not: under the 1953 Law the parties remain married until the get is given and received, so the Israeli Chief Rabbinate will not permit either of them to remarry in a Jewish ceremony in Israel, and the population registry will not treat them as free to marry. Correcting this years later, once a former spouse has moved on or become hard to locate, can take many months and sometimes proves impossible, leaving the other party unable to remarry at all.

A related trap is the race between forums. In Israel, certain financial matters can be attached to whichever divorce action is filed first, so the choice of where and when to file can quietly decide which country's court divides the assets. A non-resident who delays while the other spouse files in Israel may lose that choice.

Practical Checklist

• Confirm early whether an Israeli rabbinical court actually has jurisdiction under Section 4A, or whether the get must be arranged before a religious court where you live.
• Keep the two tracks clear in your mind: the get dissolves the marriage; a separate proceeding divides the money and property.
• If your spouse may refuse the get, act while Israel still has practical reach over them, through travel, assets, or an Israeli address.
• Register a protective note at the Land Registry on any Israeli apartment before positions harden.
• Get any foreign divorce or property order properly recognised in Israel before assuming it binds Israeli assets.
• Obtain the Israeli divorce certificate and have it apostilled and translated for use in your home country.

Speak With an Israeli Attorney

A divorce that touches Israel rewards early, careful advice more than almost any other family matter, because the order of steps and the choice of forum can decide both whether you can remarry and who keeps the Israeli apartment. An Israeli family lawyer can tell you whether an Israeli court has jurisdiction, coordinate the get across borders, and protect your position over Israeli property while you remain abroad.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.