A woman who took her elderly mother to court over a dispute involving her late father's will has been disinherited, after the mother revised her own will to exclude her daughter entirely. Following the mother’s death, the family feud reignited in court.
The Haifa District Court recently rejected an appeal by the woman challenging the validity of her late mother’s will, which left her out of the inheritance entirely. Judges declined to overturn the family court’s ruling that the will was valid and reflected the mother’s wishes.
The case involved two of the mother's five children - a brother and sister -following her death in late 2017. In February of that year, the daughter filed a lawsuit to cancel the Succession Order issued after their father’s death decades earlier. That order named the mother as the sole heir, based on waivers signed by the children. The daughter claimed she was misled into signing the waiver.
As a result, at age 83 and with physical limitations, the mother was forced to appear in court to defend herself against her daughter’s claims. Just eight days after the first hearing, the mother drafted a new will excluding her daughter and bequeathing all her assets to her four sons. She died a few months later, before the case concluded.
The daughter later contested the new will, arguing that her brothers had exerted undue influence over their mother. However, a court-appointed expert found otherwise, stating that the mother was cognitively sound at the time, understood what she was signing, and had made the decision of her own free will, out of appreciation for the sons and daughters-in-law who had supported her in her final years.
In December of last year, the family court rejected the daughter’s challenge and upheld the will. The court found the mother was independent at the time the will was written and was not reliant on the son, namely the respondent in the case. It also noted the mother had maintained social relationships with relatives, neighbors, and acquaintances and was not socially isolated.
The court further ruled that the daughter had initiated the rift that led to her disinheritance. Since marrying, she had reportedly cut off contact with her mother, avoided visits, and even ignored her phone calls. The lawsuit she filed against her mother was also cited by the judge as a reasonable explanation for the will’s contents.
In her appeal filed in January, the daughter contested the factual findings of the lower court and challenged the expert opinion. But the district court upheld the ruling and ordered the daughter to pay 15,000 shekels in legal fees to her brother.