# Hebrew Will Templates (Succession Law 1965)

These are fill-in templates for a self-made will. Replace bracketed slots. They are for a straightforward estate; for a business, foreign assets, a trust, minors needing a guardian, or a likely dispute, use a licensed inheritance lawyer.

## Witnessed will (צוואה בעדים), the default

The text produced here is an automatic draft for your own preparation. No advocate has reviewed it. Have an advocate review it before you sign.

הנוסח שנוצר כאן הוא טיוטה אוטומטית לצורכי התארגנות אישית. אף עורך דין לא עבר עליו. פנו לעורך דין שיעבור עליו לפני החתימה.


Under the Succession Law a witnessed will is not legally required to be made through a lawyer, though having an inheritance lawyer draft or review it is recommended. The testator declares before two witnesses that this is their will and signs it by hand in front of them; the witnesses sign too. The witnesses, and their spouses, must NOT be beneficiaries.

```
צוואה

אני הח"מ, [שם מלא], נושא/ת תעודת זהות מספר [מספר ת"ז], מרחוב [כתובת מלאה],
בהיותי בדעה צלולה ומיושבת, מרצוני החופשי וללא כל אונס, כפייה או השפעה בלתי הוגנת,
מצווה בזאת כדלקמן:

1. הנני מבטל/ת בזאת כל צוואה, הוראה או מסמך קודמים שערכתי לגבי רכושי.

2. את כל רכושי, מכל מין וסוג, ובכלל זה [פירוט הנכסים, למשל: הדירה ברחוב ___ ,
   חשבונות בנק, כספים, מיטלטלין], אני מצווה כדלקמן:
   2.1 ל[שם מלא + קרבה], ת"ז [מספר] - [החלק או הנכס, למשל: מחצית מהדירה].
   2.2 ל[שם מלא + קרבה], ת"ז [מספר] - [החלק או הנכס].
   [הוסיפו סעיפים לפי הצורך]

3. [רשות] הנני ממנה את [שם], ת"ז [מספר], כמנהל/ת העיזבון לביצוע צוואה זו.

4. [רשות, אם יש ילדים קטינים] הנני מבקש/ת כי [שם] ישמש/תשמש כאפוטרופוס/ית
   לילדיי הקטינים. [הערה: מינוי אפוטרופוס מאושר בידי בית המשפט, זו בקשה ולא מינוי מחייב.]

ולראיה באתי על החתום, היום [תאריך לועזי ועברי], במקום [עיר].

_______________________
[שם המצווה] - חתימת המצווה

אישור העדים:
אנו הח"מ, שני עדים, מעידים בזה כי המצווה הנ"ל הצהיר/ה בפנינו כי זוהי צוואתו/ה,
וחתם/ה עליה מרצונו/ה החופשי בנוכחותנו, ואנו חתמנו כעדים בנוכחותו/ה ובנוכחות זה של זה.

עד 1: [שם מלא], ת"ז [מספר], כתובת [כתובת]   חתימה: _______________
עד 2: [שם מלא], ת"ז [מספר], כתובת [כתובת]   חתימה: _______________
```

**Signing rules (these are constitutive under Section 20, not etiquette):**
- The witness-confirmation clause above (the witnesses confirming in writing, on the will, that the testator declared and signed) is a required element. Do NOT replace it with bare signature lines.
- Draft all four Section 20 elements every time, but do not describe a flawed will as void. Section 25 allows the Registrar or the court to admit a will despite a missing element or a witness-competence problem, provided the מרכיב היסוד holds: for this form, that the will is in writing and the testator brought it before two witnesses.
- **Warn the testator what this document does not reach (Section 20 does not help here, Section 147 does).** Money payable on death under an insurance contract, a pension fund (קופת קיצבה), or a provident fund (קופת גמל) is not part of the estate unless the contract says so. It goes to the beneficiaries (מוטבים) registered with the fund or insurer, and this will does not override them. Tell the testator to update those designations separately. A clause here purporting to leave "all my property" does not capture them.
- The testator must be 18+ and of sound mind (Section 26). A will by a minor or a legally incompetent person is void.
- The two witnesses must be adults and not legally incompetent (Section 24), and must NOT be beneficiaries or spouses of beneficiaries. More broadly (Section 35), a gift to anyone who wrote, witnessed, or helped prepare the will, or to their spouse, is void.
- Everyone signs the SAME physical copy, in each other's presence, at the same sitting (באותו מעמד).
- Keep the original safe; consider depositing it with the Inheritance Registrar (optional).

## Handwritten will (צוואה בכתב יד), no witnesses

Section 19 requires it to be written ENTIRELY in the testator's own handwriting (not typed), to carry a date written in the testator's hand, and to be signed by the testator. Write all three.

If the date or the signature is missing, the will is defective but NOT automatically void. Under Section 25 the Inheritance Registrar or the court may still admit it, by reasoned decision, provided they have no doubt it reflects the testator's free and true intent. What Section 25 cannot cure is the מרכיב היסוד, which for this form is that the whole will is written in the testator's own hand. A will that is partly typed, or written by someone else, fails on that and no cure is available.

No witnesses are required, but a handwritten will is the easiest form to contest, so a witnessed will is usually safer.

```
[בכתב ידו של המצווה בלבד:]

צוואה

אני [שם מלא], ת"ז [מספר], בדעה צלולה ומרצוני החופשי, מצווה כי לאחר מותי
יחולק רכושי כך: [פירוט].
הנני מבטל כל צוואה קודמת.

תאריך: [תאריך]
חתימה: _______________
```

## Notes
- **Revoking a will (Section 36).** Two routes: express revocation in any of the forms used to make a will, or destroying the will (destruction raises a presumption that the testator meant to revoke it). A new will revokes the earlier one only to the extent the two conflict; if the new will merely adds to the old, both stand. So always include an express revocation clause when replacing a will.
- **A promise to make or keep a will is worthless (Section 27).** An undertaking to make, change, or revoke a will has no effect, and a will clause purporting to bar its own revocation is void.
- **Agreements about a future inheritance are void (Section 8).** An agreement about the estate of a living person, and a waiver of a future inheritance, are both void. A gift intended to vest only on the giver's death is void unless made as a will under this law. So a family "agreement" that a child renounces their share in advance does not bind anyone.
- **Mutual wills (צוואה הדדית, Section 8א).** Spouses may make wills in reliance on each other, whether the beneficiary is the other spouse or a third party, in one document or two made at the same time. Revocation is restricted: while both are alive, the spouse revoking must give the other written notice, and that cancels BOTH wills. After one dies, the survivor may revoke only by disclaiming what they are due under the deceased's mutual will (before distribution), or by returning everything they inherited under it, or its value (after distribution). A clause completely denying the right to revoke while both are alive is itself void. Send them to a lawyer before drafting one.
- Do NOT promise the will avoids all disputes; an heir can still file an objection, which moves the matter to the Family Court.