Inheriting an apartment in joint ownership (indivision) in Israel?

1. Before the registration of heirs

At the time of inheritance, several steps must be taken. First, following the death, it is necessary to determine the identity of the heirs, the share of each one, and to have it recognized through an extra-judicial act, a kind of deed of notoriety, called Tsav Yerusha, or Tsva Kioum Tsavaa if there is a will.

Before obtaining the title of heir, no one is entitled to act on the property, so this matter must be resolved as quickly as possible. Once the title is obtained, the heirs must be registered as owners in place of the deceased.

If one of the heirs is unreachable or refuses to cooperate with the procedures, it is necessary to appoint an estate administrator. This procedure is sometimes required for urgent operations to be carried out on the property before the registration of the heirs. The administrator is generally a lawyer or a family member, appointed by the court at the request of the heirs or interested creditors. They can manage, rent, or even sell the property.

2. Registered joint ownership

It is possible that even after the property has been registered in the name of the heirs, one of them may be untraceable, legally incapacitated, or otherwise unable to act, and the co-owners may have difficulty taking action. In this case, they will need to appoint a liquidator or a judicial administrator, following the same principle as the estate administrator. They act on behalf of those who cannot act and in their objective interest.

This makes it possible, for example, to avoid blocking a major project because of a person who cannot be found or who is not in a position to sign. This approach is sometimes used when a Pinoui Binoui project (a large construction project involving several buildings) is delayed because of an apartment whose joint owners have not all been able to cooperate.

3. Dissolution of joint ownership

When several heirs have jointly become owners of a property and one of them refuses or delays the sale, it is possible to ask the court to end this situation and force the sale. The reluctant party will then have the choice of buying out the others' shares, selling their share to another co-owner, or being forced to sell their share along with the others to a third party, at the market price determined by an expert. Once again, an administrator will be called upon to carry out the operations.

Conclusion: Joint ownership is not an inevitable fate, and there are ways to address this situation.