Rights in an apartment, which is a joint property of a "common-law marriage" couple, were divided unequally after their separation.
The Supreme Court accepted the appeal and held that the apartment is a joint property and therefore cannot be divided unequally. The “community property presumption” doctrine establishes a presumption regarding spouses who live together and maintain a joint household, according to which the property accumulated during their life together is their joint property, which belongs to both in equal parts. An unequal division of a joint property retroactively damages the property rights of the spouse whose share was deducted. Here, after the separation of the couple, the apartment was partially shared, so that a quarter of the rights in it were assigned to the man, and three quarters to the woman. The “community property presumption” doctrine establishes equal and immediate ownership sharing between spouses, therefore their joint property cannot be divided unequally, unless there is a legal provision that states otherwise and because such a provision does not exist in Israeli law, the man will be entitled to half the rights in the apartment.