Civil Divorce in Israel | How It Works

Civil divorce

“Civil divorces”, known in legal language as dissolution of marriage, deal with the divorce of couples who married in a civil ceremony, that is, with ending marriages entered into outside the Rabbinate, as opposed to the divorce of couples who married in a religious ceremony within the framework of the Rabbinate. It should be stressed that there is in fact no formal legal procedure called “civil divorce” in Israel; the term simply describes the ways in which couples who married civilly can end their marriage. Before explaining how civil divorces are carried out, we will first explain when civil marriages are performed, and under what circumstances.

Before talking about civil divorce, what is civil marriage?

“Civil marriage” is a general name for various marriage procedures conducted outside the Rabbinate. Quite a few couples in Israel are forced to marry outside the Rabbinate, or choose to, for a wide range of reasons. These include couples barred from marrying under Jewish law, such as a kohen and a divorcee or a kohen and a widow, a marriage involving a mamzer, couples in which only one partner is Jewish, or same-sex couples.

On the other hand, there are also couples who face no halakhic bar to marrying each other but still prefer not to marry through the Rabbinate, mainly for ideological reasons, such as opposition to the religious establishment. Such couples may prefer a completely secular wedding ceremony, or a non-Orthodox religious ceremony conducted by a Reform or Conservative rabbi (loosely, these marriages are also called “civil marriages”, even though they too take place within a religious ceremony). In recent years, more and more couples who could marry through the Rabbinate have chosen to marry outside it for ideological reasons, and in many cases they later seek a civil divorce as well.

Civil Divorces – The State of Israel’s Position

As a rule, the State of Israel does not recognize civil marriages performed in Israel, since the exclusive authority to perform marriages (and divorces) under the law was given to the Rabbinate alone. However, the state does recognize civil marriage procedures performed in certain countries abroad (including Cyprus and the Czech Republic), and it allows couples who married in those countries to apply to be registered as married in the Population Registry in Israel. To do so, they must present to the Ministry of the Interior the civil marriage certificate they received abroad.

How can civilly married couples divorce?

Naturally, and just like couples who married in a religious ceremony through the Rabbinate, couples who married in a civil ceremony outside the Rabbinate may also hit a marital crisis and decide to divorce. The question then arises: how can they formally divorce?

Many people assume that just as the civil marriage took place outside the Rabbinate, the divorce that follows it should also take place outside the Rabbinate. Many even choose civil marriage precisely because of that assumption, so that if, heaven forbid, they divorce, they will not have to do so through the Rabbinate. That assumption is mistaken. In most cases, even someone who married outside the Rabbinate will have to divorce through it, since Israeli law grants the rabbinical court exclusive authority not only to perform marriages but also to perform divorces, as noted above.

Civil divorces – how is the process carried out at the Rabbinate?

In other words, even though the Rabbinate does not formally recognize civil marriage, a couple must still go through the Rabbinate in order to divorce after one. The reason is that halakha views a civil marriage as possibly creating a marriage bond, and in order to prevent the birth of mamzerim (children born to a married woman from a man who is not her husband), it requires obtaining a get as a matter of stringency and completing the civil divorce process within the framework of the Rabbinate. The process is meant to verify that the couple has indeed divorced and is no longer married, even if the marriage was not conducted through the Rabbinate.

Alternatively, couples who married in a civil procedure abroad can also go through a civil divorce procedure abroad, in the same country where they married, provided that its local law also allows them to divorce there. Afterward, they can register the divorce in the Population Registry in Israel. It is therefore worth finding out in advance which of the countries that perform civil marriages also allow a civil divorce procedure.

Civil Divorce – The Legal Situation for Non-Jewish Spouses

Incidentally, this is also the legal situation for two non-Jewish spouses who married in a civil marriage abroad and belong to religious communities recognized in Israel, that is, Muslims, Christians, and Druze. They can divorce in Israel through a religious divorce procedure, within the framework of their own religious court, or undergo a civil divorce procedure abroad in the country where they married, to the extent that its local law allows it.

That said, while the authority to conduct the divorce itself is granted exclusively to the rabbinical court (or another religious court), the authority to rule on the issues tied to the divorce, such as support payments, division of joint property, and child custody, is not exclusive to it; the Family Court shares that authority. It is therefore possible, in principle, to complete the divorce itself in the religious court and settle the related issues in the Family Court, subject to questions of jurisdiction.

How is a civil divorce conducted at the Rabbinate after a civil marriage?

The good news about having to divorce at the Rabbinate even after a civil marriage performed outside it is that the procedure is usually faster and simpler than a divorce that follows a religious marriage through the Rabbinate. In these cases, there is usually no need to prove grounds for divorce before the rabbinical court, such as infidelity or adultery, prolonged infertility, a rebellious spouse, and the like. The rabbinical court will usually not try to find out whether peace can be restored to the marriage; it will simply order that a get be arranged. In addition, in cases where the get is not given by consent, such as when one spouse refuses to grant it without any factual justification, or when a husband has disappeared and left his wife unable to remarry, the rabbinical court may even waive the get arrangement and opt for a marriage dissolution procedure, which nullifies the validity of the marriage from the start.

How is a civil divorce conducted outside the Rabbinate?

There are several situations in which couples who married in a civil procedure can divorce outside the Rabbinate or outside another religious court. These include the following cases:

Civil divorces abroad

Spouses who married in a civil procedure abroad, whether Jews or members of religious communities recognized in Israel (Muslims, Christians, and Druze), can, as noted, also divorce in the same country abroad where they married, to the extent that its law allows them to divorce there.

Civil divorces in the Family Court

Couples who married abroad, where each belongs to a different religion, or at least one of them has no religion or does not belong to any recognized religious community (such as Buddhist or Hindu), can divorce through a divorce proceeding before the Family Court.

Civil divorce through dissolution of marriage

Spouses without religion, or spouses who belong to a religious community not recognized in Israel, who married in a civil procedure abroad, can also divorce through a marriage dissolution proceeding before the Family Court.

Civil divorces and deregistration

Spouses who have no religion or who belong to a religious community not recognized in Israel, and who entered into a spousal covenant, can divorce by filing a joint application with the registrar to delete the registration of their covenant from the register. If they do not agree on this, so that only one spouse wants the registration deleted, or if one of the spouses is legally incompetent or has been appointed a guardian, they can divorce through a divorce proceeding before the Family Court.

Same-sex civil divorces

Same-sex couples who married in a civil marriage can divorce before the Family Court.

* Updated for 2026

Israel has no civil divorce track for Jewish couples: ending the marriage requires a get granted by the Rabbinical Court. In practice the term civil divorce describes the handling of the civil aspects of the separation, meaning division of property, maintenance and custody, in the Family Court, alongside the religious proceedings. Splitting the matter between two systems creates what is known as the race for jurisdiction, and the choice of forum in which proceedings are opened can have a real effect on the outcome. It is one of the most important tactical decisions at the outset.

No, at least not Jewish couples married under religious law. Even where every financial aspect is settled in the Family Court, a get is required for the marriage to end in terms of personal status. A get is given voluntarily, and where one spouse refuses, the other can remain bound to the marriage for a long time. The Rabbinical Court has power to impose sanctions on a refusing spouse, but relief is not always immediate, and this remains one of the hardest issues in Israeli law.

Such couples are registered as married in Israel, and on separation the Family Court has jurisdiction. The Spouses (Property Relations) Law applies in full, and assets are divided through equal balancing. Ending the marriage itself is simpler than for a couple married under religious law, but the property and custody aspects are no less demanding and call for the same care.

For Jewish couples married under religious law, the husband’s duty to maintain his wife derives from personal status law and continues until a get is given; the amount is set according to her needs, his means and the standard of living during the marriage. Where proceedings run in the Family Court, as they do for a couple married civilly abroad, spousal maintenance is assessed on principles of fairness, the economic dependence created by the marriage, and the needs of the parties. On either track the question turns heavily on the particular circumstances.

The length depends on the complexity of the case and on how far the parties cooperate. An uncontested divorce, where every issue is settled in advance by agreement, can conclude within a few months. A contested divorce involving litigation over property, custody and maintenance usually runs for a year or more, and where a get is refused, far longer. Mediation shortens the process substantially and saves a large share of the legal costs.

Trying to hide assets is among the most expensive mistakes in a divorce. The court has tools to uncover them, including disclosure orders, applications to financial institutions and the appointment of forensic accountants. A party found to have dissipated or concealed assets may end up with less than an equal share, since the court may depart from equal balancing where there has been bad faith. Full transparency from the start is both the sound legal strategy and the sound financial one.

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