Estate File (Haifa) 51710-09-20 Anonymous v. Anonymous

In front of me:         The Honorable Judge Liron Zerbel – Kadashai

Regarding the rest:            Rest

The Applicants:      1.         Anonymous

2. Anonymous
3. Anonymous
4. Anonymous

By Attorney Shai Dax et al.

Against

Respondent:                         Anonymous

By Attorney Rami Halabi

Judgment

The deceased signed two wills in witnesses, about three weeks apart.  In her later will, the witness's signature was missing.  Is it lawful to execute this will and overcome the defect, or is it lawful to cancel the will and give priority to the deceased's early will? And perhaps in the circumstances of the case, both wills should be annulled?

This is the dispute that I must decide in this case.

1. At the heart of the dispute is a real estate asset and two wills relating to it. The antagonistic parties are a brother and his sisters (hereinafter - "the son" or "the brother" and the "daughters" or "sisters", respectively).  According to the one will, the deceased's apartment is granted to the son and includes the right of a daughter's daughters, if any of them divorces.  According to the other and later will, the deceased's apartment is granted to the daughters.  Each party wishes to receive a probate order for the will in which it holds and opposes the other will.  In the meantime, pending a bankruptcy proceeding that the deceased initiated while she was still alive, and even in which the residential apartment is at the heart of the dispute, was the apartment the deceased's apartment, and then it will serve as a source for the benefit of the deceased's creditors, even though she is not registered as the owner of rights in the apartment.  In the framework of my judgment, I will maintain the boundaries of the proceeding at hand, as distinct from the proceedings taking place in the Court of Civil

Property

2. The property is a residence and courtyard in [north], which stands on block 00000 plot 00. The property is not identified and is not registered through a consolidation and division plan or the registration of a condominium, and is built on a plot of about 23 dunams and has 23 registered owners in Mosha.  The deceased or her late husband were never registered as owners of rights in the land, and the owner of the rights registered to this day (a plot of 760/22928 square meters) is the husband's father, who is the grandfather of the parties.
3. In addition, there is no dispute that the son actually "divided" the property into two apartments by means of a separating wall. In one part the son lived with his wife, and in the other part the deceased lived.  In her wills, the deceased refers to the two parts of the property as two distinct apartments, and in respect of them different instructions were given in the wills.  This is despite the fact that the division of the house into two apartments is not reflected in any such registry or register.  The deceased also distinguishes in her wills between the property and the courtyards that surround it, and so even though this distinction is not rooted in the provisions of the law and is also not expressed in any registry, register or drawing.

The Will of February 27, 2016 - The Early Will

4. The alleged will dated February 27, 2016 (hereinafter - the "Early Will") is one page long, printed in Arabic (the translation of the early will was attached to the son's affidavit, paragraph 3). The will is prepared as a declaration by the honorable discourse who brings the words of the deceased to him.  The deceased allegedly ordered that her apartment and the yard, as well as the apartment in which the son lived, be given to her son.  In the language of the will, the deceased "noted that the house in which she lives, which consists of a room, a kitchen, and a toilet, and in front of it is a courtyard that extends to the uncle's house [...] She noted that the garden and the rest of the house in which she lives today [...] [...] and that the entrance from the side of the main street will be for her, but the house she lives in with the courtyard will be white [...] The above is stated only after her and her command that if, God forbid, one of the daughters is divorced, she will have the right to return and live in her mother's house, and it will not be possible to prevent her from doing so."
5. The Ottoman Settlement [Old Version] 1916The will bears the signature of the deceased, the honorable sheikh So-and-so - the drafter of the will - and they are two witnesses, Mr. P.B. and Mr. S.B.

12-34-56-78 Chekhov v.  State of Israel, P.D.  51 (2)