The well-known rule is that if a couple enters into a financial agreement, it is the agreement that will guide them in the event of Divorce Or when they seek to divide their joint property.
On the other hand, if spouses do not enter into a financial agreement, then an arrangement known as the balancing of resources will apply to them, in accordance with the Financial Relations Law, 5733-1973.
In accordance with the same arrangement stipulated by law, the property will be divided half by half unless it is proven that, with regard to joint property, there was no real intention of sharing between the spouses.
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The question of whether or not there was an intention to share is a subject of daily dispute in family courts. In the review before you, the court had to resolve a dispute between divorcing spouses, and decide whether the resource balancing arrangement applied in their case.
The facts of the case that came to court
This is a case that has been discussed for a long time. At home Family Law In Jerusalem as part of a process TAMSH (Y-M) 30831-03-12 A H N Y H, the court discussed the question of the property regime that should be established between spouses.
The above case concerns a couple who married in 1976 and had children.
They lived their entire life together in an apartment in the city of Jerusalem. The apartment was purchased before their marriage and was already registered in the name of the husband (the defendant).
A few years ago, the couple decided to divorce. The husband registered his rights to the apartment in the name of his mother, who died during the legal proceedings.
The parties’ claims regarding the possibility of dividing the apartment
The woman claimed full and equal sharing between the couple, including in the apartment where she lived for years with her husband.
She claimed it was Intention Apartment sharing And the transfer of rights to her in the name of her ex-husband’s mother should not be seen as a lack of intent to share on his part.
The husband, on the other hand, claimed that throughout their lives the couple maintained a regime of property separation, and therefore, according to him, the apartment should not be divided and the wife should not be granted rights in it.
Division of property between spouses
As stated, the property regime applicable to the spouses is that established within the framework of Law Financial Relations “The law takes an approach of complete separation between the spouses’ assets during the course of marriage and postponing sharing between them as a rule until the date of divorce or the death of a spouse.”
The law establishes a regime of Balance Resources between the couple, which is expressed in the fact that as a rule “upon the dissolution of the marriage or upon the termination of the marriage due to the death of a spouse… each spouse is entitled to half the value of all the spouses’ assets.”
The couple may make the arrangement stipulated in the Financial Relations Law conditional upon signing a financial agreement, which was not done under the circumstances.
The court’s decision and the implementation of the resource balancing arrangement
The court examined whether there was indeed a property regime of sharing between the couple, according to the plaintiff, or whether there was complete property separation, according to the husband’s claim.
The ruling determined that the couple had an almost complete sharing of their assets, at least until recent years. It was also ruled that the separation of property only began in 2010, and therefore the division of property will be done from the day they got married, until that year as stated.
The court ruled that pension rights accumulated by the husband up to the aforementioned termination date should be divided between the spouses.
As for the residential apartment, it is true that the apartment was purchased with the husband’s money prior to their wedding. Also, as mentioned, the wife claimed that the husband transferred the apartment in order to smuggle the property out. Whoever makes such a claim has the burden of proving it.
The husband did not show that his mother was ever registered as the owner of the rights in the apartment.
Therefore, it was decided that “given the registration of the apartment in his name, in the absence of any note in favor of his parents, and the representation to me that he was the sole owner of the apartment, it follows that as the defendant accumulated debt over these many years, it is clear that a creditor could have sought repayment from the apartment in the defendant’s name and parents’ name, no claim could have been made.”
Hence, the court was able to determine that there was an intention to share the apartment as well, as it said: “It is not disputed that the apartment was brought by the defendant to the marriage and that neither of the parties has another apartment. The apartment was registered in the defendant’s name from the date of its purchase until 2011.
As stated above, the change in the registration in the defendant’s name does not change the defendant’s ownership of the apartment and it should be seen as if it had been registered in his name until now. The parties have lived in the apartment since their marriage in 1976, and to this day – for almost four decades.”
Finally, the court ruled that the transaction whereby the rights to the apartment would be transferred to the husband’s mother would be annulled, and that the wife was entitled to half of the joint property.
Read more: Division of property between spouses in divorce
A few words before concluding…
Living together as a couple should not be taken lightly, and even when an apartment is purchased prior to marriage, this does not detract from the right of a spouse to enjoy rights in that apartment or any property when maintaining a joint household, especially when it involves a married couple.
The recommendation in such circumstances is to always sign Agreement Finance To prevent unnecessary heartache and disputes that deepen the divorce crisis, which is already difficult.
Questions? Click here for legal advice on property division matters.
