Minor and Protected Heirs in an Israeli Estate: The Role of the Administrator General

When a minor child is among the heirs of an estate opened in Israel, the file changes character: it leaves the registry counter for the courtroom, and a public authority steps in — the Administrator General (האפוטרופוס הכללי), known in Hebrew as the Apotropos HaKlali. Families living abroad often experience this as an unwelcome complication. It is in fact the main guarantee that the child’s share will not quietly dissolve into the arrangements made by the adults.

I. Why a minor or protected heir changes the procedure

In Israel, an uncontested estate is normally opened before the Registrar of Inheritance Affairs (רשם לענייני ירושה), an administrative authority that issues the inheritance order or the probate order on the papers.

A vulnerable heir moves that entry point. The Israeli Succession Law provides that the matter is transferred to the court where the Administrator General appears in the application on behalf of a minor (קטין), a person under guardianship (חסוי) or an absent person (נעדר) — section 67א(א)(4). The file then moves from a paper-based registry track to full judicial supervision, with the hearings, documents and additional time that this implies.

On the protection side, the Israeli Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law of 1962 makes parents the natural guardians (אפוטרופוסים טבעיים) of their minor child (section 14). Their role covers managing and safeguarding the child’s property and representing the child (section 15), and they must act in the child’s interest as a devoted parent would (section 17). The power exists — but it has a ceiling.

II. The Administrator General: three roles not to be confused

• National inheritance authority. The law designates the Administrator General as the official responsible for inheritance matters (section 65א of the Succession Law).
• Supervisor of the estate administrator. It is to him that the estate administrator (מנהל עיזבון) files the estate inventory (פרטת העיזבון) (section 84(א)), the valuation of the assets (section 85(1)) and then an account (דין וחשבון) at least once a year (section 86); the way those documents are reviewed is fixed by regulation (section 87). Where the court requires security (ערובה), it is given in his favour (section 90).
• Estate administrator in his own right. The law allows an individual, a corporation or the Administrator General to be appointed administrator (section 79). In that last case, several ordinary obligations — including those of sections 80 and 84 to 91 — do not apply (section 96).

Where a guardian has separately been appointed for the child, that guardian also reports to the Administrator General: an inventory of the ward’s property within thirty days of appointment (section 51 of the 1962 Law) and a report at least once a year (section 53).

III. The acts that cannot be done without the court

This is where families meet the most concrete obstacle. Three sets of limits stack up:

• A disclaimer of inheritance (הסתלקות) by a minor or by a person declared legally incompetent requires the court’s approval (section 6(ג) of the Succession Law). An estate therefore cannot be “simplified” by having the child disclaim in favour of the surviving parent.
• Assigning or charging the share of a minor or incompetent heir requires the same approval (section 7(ב)).
• Parents may not represent their child, without the court’s prior authorisation, for the acts listed in section 20 of the 1962 Law: transfer, charge, division or liquidation of a dwelling or of an economic unit; any act whose validity depends on registration in a register kept under statute — which points directly at the Land Registry (טאבו); gifts, other than customary ones; giving a guarantee; and legal acts between the child and the parents or their relatives.

The practical consequence: selling the estate’s apartment where a minor is an heir means passing through two doors — the one that concerns the administration of the estate, and the one that protects the child’s share. Anticipating both avoids discovering the obstacle after a sale agreement has been signed.

IV. The estate administrator under reinforced supervision

The court appoints an estate administrator on the application of any interested party (section 78(א)). He must gather the assets and administer the estate subject to the court’s directions (section 82), which the judge may supplement at any time (section 83); he is empowered to do whatever is required to carry out his functions (section 97).

Where a minor is involved, this framework stops being a formality. The court may require security before or after the appointment (section 89(א)); the administrator’s remuneration is fixed by the court under rules laid down by the Minister of Justice (section 91); and the administrator is liable for damage caused by breach of his duties (section 88). Since the child cannot complain for himself, this chain of supervision is what stands in for a counterweight.

V. France and Israel: two ways of protecting the child’s share

In France, a minor’s property is managed by the parents under administration légale, but the legal administrator may not carry out, without the judge’s prior authorisation, the acts listed in article 387-1 of the Civil Code — among them waiving a right on the child’s behalf and accepting outright a succession falling to the child; the judge may also extend that list (article 387-3). For a protected adult under guardianship, article 507-1 allows acceptance only up to the net assets, outright acceptance being open only where the assets manifestly exceed the liabilities, and renunciation requiring authorisation.

The logic nonetheless differs on two essential points. First, France has no public body receiving annual accounts for an estate: supervision there is judicial and episodic, triggered act by act, whereas Israel overlays a permanent administrative watch. Second, in France it is the notaire who settles the estate, while in Israel the procedure is run by the lawyer: there is no equivalent of the French notaire settling a succession, the Israeli notary being a specially authorised lawyer for powers of attorney, certifications and translations.

Finally, French instruments do not operate automatically in Israel. The posthumous mandate (article 812 of the Civil Code), the agreed mandate between heirs (article 813) and the court-appointed estate agent (article 813-1) belong to French law; EU Regulation 650/2012 and the European Certificate of Succession do not bind Israel. An appointment obtained in France therefore does not, by itself, confer power over an Israeli asset. One further point to anticipate: Israel levies no inheritance tax, but the later resale of the inherited property raises betterment tax (מס שבח, Mas Shevah) — something to factor in from the outset where a child’s share will one day have to be realised.

Conclusion – Why work with a lawyer in estate administration?

Two legal systems, two philosophies of supervision, and between them a child’s share that neither will allow to be touched without justification. Lining up French administration légale, the authorisations of the Israeli court and the oversight of the Administrator General calls for both legal systems at once: that is the point of a firm bringing together lawyers admitted to the Israeli Bar and to the Paris Bar, together with an Israeli notary, so that the powers of attorney, certifications and translations the court requires are prepared under the same roof as the inheritance strategy.

With this in mind, the firm ABITBOL & ASSOCIES, drawing on its experience in estate administration, assists its clients at every stage of protecting the share of a minor or legally protected heir. Our lawyers make sure your interests are safeguarded and that each step is taken securely.