What is important to know about child custody in divorce?
Child custody in a divorce is decided case by case, on the specific circumstances. The main parameters are the needs and best interests of the children, their ages, the parents’ incomes, and each parent’s parenting capacity. Today many fathers want to stay deeply involved in their children’s lives after the divorce, and a growing number of them seek custody themselves.
Custody arrangements and the amount of child support
When custody is awarded to the mother, the father is obligated to pay child support in full. When the parents share joint custody, they raise the children together and the expenses are divided accordingly. The case law on custody is dynamic and shifts over the years: the Supreme Court has established that in joint custody, as a rule, both parents bear responsibility for child support.
The minimum amount of child support
The minimum child support currently set by law stands at slightly less than 1,500 shekels per child, an amount the legislature fixed to cover a single child’s basic needs. A mother who asks for more in a child support claim must prove the need for it. The claim has to lay out the financial capacity of both her ex-partner and herself, together with the children’s necessary expenses: clothing and footwear, education, health, food, and the rest.
Finality of litigation, custody and child support
A custody and child support determination is a judicial decision, and one might assume the principle of finality of litigation would make it hard to change: once a matter has been decided, it is not reopened. But because custody and child support concern the interests of minors, the law does allow these issues to be reheard for the child’s sake, to protect their well-being. That is true both where the court ruled on the matter and where the parties settled it by agreement.
Child custody in divorce and legal representation
When custody arrangements are being set, or changed, it is worth having Adv. Avital Horef at your side. The Avital Horef law office specializes in family law and in representation before the courts and the rabbinical court, with deep experience in custody arrangements and divorce agreements.
* Updated for 2026
