Passing on an Israeli apartment is rarely as simple as families assume, and that is true whether the will was signed in Tel Aviv or in New York or London. Israel charges no inheritance or estate tax and has no forced-heirship regime, so the obstacle is not tax and it is not a fixed share for your children. The obstacle is procedure and choice of law. The heirs will need an Israeli court or registry order before title moves in the land registry, and the law that decides how the apartment is divided turns not on where it sits but on where the deceased was domiciled. For a family whose affairs sit entirely in Israel this is a manageable step. For a family whose will or assets reach across a border it is the step that most often takes people by surprise, and planning in advance addresses it.
Maya Ziv Law plans and settles estates for clients across the full range, families and individuals resident here in Israel, business owners, and owners and families whose wealth crosses borders. The firm coordinates the Israeli side of an estate plan so that the will, wherever it was made, and the Israeli reality point in the same direction.
Israel Has No Inheritance Tax and No Estate Tax
Israel abolished its estate and inheritance tax effective 1 April 1981. There is no inheritance tax, estate tax or death duty in Israel today, regardless of the citizenship or residency of the person who died or of the heirs (as of 2026). An apartment can pass to the next generation without an Israeli tax on the transfer itself.
This is a significant tax relief. The complication is that no Israeli tax does not mean no Israeli process, and it does not mean no foreign tax, as the US-citizen case below shows.
The Choice-of-Law Rules, Movables Versus the Apartment
Israel's Succession Law 5725-1965 contains its own choice-of-law rules, and they do not work the way most owners assume. The common assumption is that an Israeli apartment is governed by Israeli law simply because it sits here. That is not what the statute says.
The practical result matters more than the label. In a large share of cases an Israeli apartment will indeed be divided under Israeli law, but not because the apartment sits here. It is because the law of the deceased's domicile led there. An owner who assumes the answer is fixed in advance may find it turns on where they were domiciled at death, and that is precisely the kind of fact you can plan around.
The reason a foreign will alone does not move the apartment is separate from all of this, and it is practical. Section 136 gives an Israeli court jurisdiction over the estate of anyone who left assets in Israel, and the land registry will change the registered owner only on the strength of an Israeli order. Even a perfectly valid foreign will has to be given effect through an Israeli proceeding before the Tabu moves.
You Still Need an Israeli Probate or Succession Order
Where there is a will, the heirs apply in Israel for a probate order (tzav kiyum tzava'a). Where there is no will, they apply for a succession order (tzav yerusha). Either way, an Israeli order is what authorises the land registry to transfer title. A foreign grant of probate is not self-executing against Israeli land.
Section 67A of the Succession Law lists the cases in which an application must be transferred from the Registrar of Inheritance Affairs to the court. Transfer is mandatory where an opposition has been filed, where the State or one of its institutions is a party, where the Attorney General has seen fit to initiate or join a proceeding, where the Administrator General represents a person whose property they manage, where the will is an oral will, where the will carries a defect or an omission, and where the succession is governed by Chapter Seven of the Law, which is its private international law chapter. Beyond that the Registrar may transfer any application they see fit to transfer. An international family should plan on that basis, because an estate whose deceased was domiciled abroad falls within Chapter Seven.
US Citizenship, No Estate Tax Treaty
If you hold US citizenship, including as a dual national, the absence of an Israeli inheritance tax does not protect you. The United States taxes its citizens on their worldwide estate, and that worldwide estate includes the Israeli apartment.
Critically, there is no US-Israel estate tax treaty. The 1975 US-Israel convention (with its 1980 protocol) covers income tax only. That means there is no treaty mechanism to relieve double exposure and no treaty coordination between the two systems on death. The two regimes run side by side, and you have to plan around both.
For most US estates the federal exemption is large. The 2026 US federal estate and gift tax exemption is 15 million dollars per person, or 30 million dollars for a married couple (up from 13.99 million dollars per person in 2025), made permanent and inflation-indexed under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with a 40 percent top rate. Many families fall under that exemption, but the figure is a US federal number, it can change, and it interacts with lifetime gifting. These are US Internal Revenue Service rules, not Israeli law, and you should confirm your position with a US tax advisor.
The Mirror Image, a Non-US Person With US Assets
The reverse situation is far less forgiving and catches international families that hold US assets. A non-US-citizen, non-resident decedent with US-situs assets receives only a 60,000 dollar US estate tax exemption. That figure is not indexed for inflation and has not moved in decades. Above it, the estate files IRS Form 706-NA and pays US estate tax at rates running up to 40 percent. US-situs assets for this purpose include US real estate and shares in US corporations.
So an international client who owns an Israeli apartment plus, for example, a US rental property or a meaningful holding of US-listed shares can face a US estate tax bill on the US assets even though Israel charges nothing. This is US IRS law, the situs treatment of some assets (such as certain funds) depends on their structure, and it should be reviewed with a US tax advisor before you assume you are clear.
A US Heir's Reporting Duty, Form 3520
There is one more US item that catches heirs rather than estates. A US person who receives more than 100,000 dollars in aggregate within a tax year from a foreign person or estate must file IRS Form 3520, even though the inheritance itself is not subject to US income tax. The filing is informational, but the penalty for missing it is real, 5 percent per month up to 25 percent of the bequest, subject to a reasonable-cause exception.
In plain terms, a US-citizen child inheriting an Israeli apartment worth more than 100,000 dollars generally has to tell the IRS, on time, even though no US tax is due on the inheritance. This is a US, not Israeli, reporting rule, and it is one of the most commonly missed filings in cross-border estates. Speak to a US tax advisor about Form 3520 well before any distribution. For a fuller walk-through of how a US heir reports an Israeli inheritance, see the firm's note on cross-border inheritance tax reporting.
How Israeli Succession Law Divides the Apartment
The distribution set out below applies where Israeli law is the governing law, whether through the deceased's domicile or through the renvoi in section 142. Under section 11 of the Succession Law a surviving spouse takes the joint-household movable property, expressly including a passenger car, off the top, and then a share of the rest that depends on who else survives.
There is also a matrimonial-home enhancement, and it belongs to the second tier above alone, the one where siblings, their descendants or grandparents survive. Within that tier only, if the spouse was married to the deceased for three years or more immediately before the death and was living with them at that time in a dwelling that forms part of the estate, the spouse takes the deceased's entire share in that dwelling, and two-thirds of what remains on top of it. Where the deceased left children or their descendants or parents, the enhancement does not apply at all, and the spouse takes half of the residue and does not take the dwelling. This is an easy point to get wrong and it moves the result by hundreds of thousands of shekels.
A will can change most of this, which is exactly why having an Israeli-effective will, or an Israeli order that gives effect to your foreign will, is the point of planning.
The No-Step-Up Basis Point to Flag Early
As a rule, Israel has no step-up in basis at death. The heir inherits the deceased's original acquisition cost. So while the transfer at death is not taxed, a later sale of the inherited apartment can trigger Israeli capital gains tax (mas shevach) measured from the deceased's original purchase price, generally at 25 percent on the real, inflation-adjusted gain (2026 rate). This is a worst case rather than a certainty, because inflation indexation and the single-residence exemption can reduce or eliminate the eventual bill. It is worth modelling before heirs decide to hold or sell. The same capital gains and mas shevach thread runs through the firm's guide for foreign buyers of Israeli real estate, where the purchase basis you set today shapes the tax an heir faces tomorrow.
There is one carve-out to that rule, and it lives precisely in the long-held family properties this article is about. Section 26(a)(1) of the Land Taxation Law provides that where the deceased died before 1 April 1981, the acquisition value is the value of the right on the date of death. That is a genuine step-up, and it can change the result entirely for an apartment that came into the family before that date. For a death on or after 1 April 1981, section 26(a)(2) applies and the heir steps into the deceased's shoes.
Checklist, Documents and Steps for an Israeli Order
When the time comes to move an Israeli apartment after a death, this is broadly what an Israeli probate or succession application needs. Cross-border cases often take several months, so starting early helps.
The firm assembles this on the Israeli side, coordinates the apostille and translation requirements, and works alongside your foreign counsel and your tax advisor in the relevant country where a foreign citizenship or foreign assets are in play.
How the Firm Helps
Whether your life is rooted entirely in Israel or your will and assets reach across a border, the most useful thing any owner can do is stop treating the will as the whole plan. The firm reviews how your Israeli apartment will actually pass under Israeli law, identifies any mismatch between your will and the Israeli result, flags exposure in the relevant country where a family member is connected abroad, including US estate-tax and Form 3520 exposure where that connection is American, and prepares the Israeli documents in advance so the order, when needed, is straightforward. The goal is simple, that the people you intend to inherit your Israeli apartment can actually receive it, cleanly, when the time comes.
This article is general information and not legal or tax advice. Cross-border estates turn on specific facts, and US tax rules referenced here should be confirmed with a US tax advisor. Please seek advice on your own situation.
Last reviewed July 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Does Israel charge inheritance tax on an apartment I leave to my children
No. Israel abolished its estate and inheritance tax effective 1 April 1981, so there is no Israeli tax on the transfer of the apartment at death, whatever the citizenship or residency of you or your heirs. A later sale of the inherited apartment can attract Israeli capital gains tax, which is a separate matter.
I have a valid will from my home country. Why is that not enough for my Israeli apartment
For two separate reasons. The first is practical. Section 136 of the Succession Law gives an Israeli court jurisdiction over the estate of anyone who left assets in Israel, and the land registry will transfer title only on the strength of an Israeli succession or probate order, because a foreign grant is not self-executing against Israeli land. The second is substantive. The law governing the division is set by section 137 according to the deceased's domicile, not according to where the apartment sits, so the foreign will may lead to a different result from the one its drafters assumed. There is a relief here too. Section 140 treats a will as formally valid if it is valid under Israeli law, under the law of the place where it was made, under the law of the testator's domicile or habitual residence, or under the law of their nationality, so in most cases the defect is not in the will itself but in the absence of the Israeli order.
I am a US citizen living abroad. Is my Israeli apartment exposed to US tax at death
The United States taxes its citizens on their worldwide estate, which includes the Israeli apartment, and there is no US-Israel estate tax treaty to relieve that, since the 1975 convention covers income tax only. Many estates fall under the large US federal exemption, but this is US IRS law and you should confirm your position with a US tax advisor.
My US-citizen child will inherit. Is there anything they must file
Generally yes. A US person who receives more than 100,000 dollars in aggregate within a tax year from a foreign person or estate must file IRS Form 3520, even though the inheritance itself is not US-taxed. The penalty for missing it is significant, so this is worth raising with a US tax advisor before any distribution. It is a US reporting rule, not an Israeli one.
What documents do my heirs need to move the apartment in Israel
In broad terms, the death certificate and the will (and any foreign grant) with apostilles, certified Hebrew translations, the heirs' details and relationship, the Tabu extract, and the application to the Registrar of Inheritance Affairs or the Family Court, followed by registration of the transfer once the order issues.
Adv. Maya Ziv advises private individuals and business clients, in Israel and abroad, on real estate, estate and commercial matters. Before law she built a finance career at Baruch College, Citi and Vornado, and she is admitted to the Israel Bar. She brings a deal-maker's eye to the legal structures that move property and capital, whether the whole matter sits in Israel or reaches across a border.
Sources
Primary Israeli legislation underlying this article.