A Tel Aviv court upheld this week a ruling requiring an Israeli businessman described by the courts as a financial prodigy to pay his former partner, the mother of his children, $50 million in one of the country’s most closely watched divorce property disputes.
The sum includes half the wealth he accumulated and half of a luxury estate in central Israel valued at about $25 million. The businessman’s appeal of an earlier family court ruling was rejected this week.
In a July 2025 ruling, Family Court Judge Yehoram Shaked said the man had acted in bad faith and had done everything he could to prevent the woman from receiving her share of family assets, which she estimated at about $100 million.
This week, a three-judge panel of the Tel Aviv District Court rejected his appeal. District Court Judge Einat Ravid wrote that the family court ruling was “very well reasoned,” properly analyzed the facts and reached the correct conclusions.
The case centered on the division of property after the end of the couple’s relationship. Beyond the question of ownership of the family’s luxury home, the main dispute concerned the scope of the couple’s joint assets.
The woman argued that the man had used his expertise to create complex trust structures to conceal shared assets from her. The man argued that the couple’s joint property was in fact in her hands and denied her claims that he had hidden assets.
The couple had been married for more than 25 years. The woman said the man’s considerable business success and the complete trust she placed in him led to a division of roles in which she focused on running the household, allowing him to devote himself fully to his work and financial dealings.
Before the dispute erupted, the family lived what the court described as an exceptionally affluent lifestyle, including luxury residences, high-end cars, extensive household staff and lavish vacations, supported by the man’s success in finance and capital markets.
The family had lived in a mansion in central Israel with a built area of about 1,600 square meters, including an elevator, underfloor heating, three kitchens, a gym, a spa with wet and dry saunas, a swimming pool and a tennis court. The home was registered in the name of a foreign company.
The woman argued that the property belonged to both sides and had been built on land they bought together, but was registered to the company at the man’s direction.
In his 2025 ruling, Shaked described the case as among the most outrageous he had encountered on the bench, writing that the man held family wealth worth about $100 million and refused to share even the woman’s portion with her.
He ultimately accepted her claim, awarded her half of the residence despite its registration under a foreign company and ordered the man to pay her about $37 million in addition to her share of the home. He also ordered him to pay 2.5 million shekels in legal fees and another 100,000 shekels in expenses.
The district court said the family court had been correct in finding that the man was a financial wizard and an expert at concealing assets, including from his former partner. It said the transfer of the family’s property into a complex trust mechanism was intended, among other things, to keep it out of the woman’s reach in the event of divorce.
Ravid wrote that it had been proven that the man used the trust structure so that, if the couple divorced, he could prevent the woman from receiving her rights in the family home or other property accumulated during the marriage.
The man still has the option of seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Attorney Judith MeiselsPhoto: Noa Magar
Attorney Shmuel Moran Photo: CourtesyThe woman’s lawyers, Judith Meisels, Shmuel Moran and Noa Alroy-Mizrahi, welcomed the ruling, calling it a decisive and courageous judgment that sends a clear message that a party to a divorce dispute, no matter how powerful, cannot manipulate the weaker side, the courts or the law.