What is an objection to a will? An objection to a will is, in practice, an objection to an application for a probate order, arguing that the will in question should be invalidated and given no binding force through a probate order.
To understand an objection to a will, then, one must first understand what a probate order is and why it is needed at all.
In order to carry out the provisions of a will and distribute the testator’s estate to the beneficiaries named in it, according to the distribution instructions it contains, a probate order must be obtained after the testator’s death. Without a probate order, the will cannot be implemented and has no binding force, including before the Land Registry (Tabu), banks, insurance companies, and so on.
The probate order is obtained by filing an application with the Registrar of Inheritance Matters (the application can also be filed with the rabbinical court, but that route is conditional on all the beneficiaries under the will consenting to the rabbinical court’s jurisdiction, and on all of them appearing at the hearing before it).
The probate process is designed to confirm that the will is genuine and valid and reflects the testator’s true and free wishes, as opposed to a will that is not, such as a forged will, an earlier will revoked by a later one, a will made under undue influence on the testator by someone exploiting his personal distress, and other grounds for invalidation.
To safeguard this, the Inheritance Law allows an objection to a probate application to be filed with the Registrar of Inheritance Matters. This is a document setting out why that specific will should not be granted a probate order and should instead be invalidated, as explained below.
Who may object to a probate order?
Section 67 of the Inheritance Law defines very broadly who may file an objection to a probate order: “Anyone interested in the matter may file an objection with the Registrar of Inheritance Matters…”
In other words, anyone with an apparent interest in opposing the probate order may file one. In practice, objectors are usually heirs at law, such as the testator’s spouse or children who claim they were unfairly cut out of the will, or the testator’s creditors, or someone holding a later will, and so on.
When can an objection to a probate order be filed?
After an application for a probate order is filed, the Registrar of Inheritance Matters must publish notice of it in a daily newspaper and in the Official Gazette, so that anyone with an interest in opposing the will knows the application has been filed and can object.
The objection must be filed within 14 days of the date that notice is published, and as long as the order has not yet been issued (Section 67 of the Inheritance Law). Filing an objection carries a fee (NIS 968, as of 2022).
How do you file an objection to a probate order?
The objection must be filed together with all of the following supporting documents: a case-opening form, an affidavit by the objector, signed and verified before an attorney, a power of attorney (if the objector is represented), and a receipt for payment of the fee.
Today the objection and its accompanying documents can easily be filed online, through the Registrar of Inheritance Matters’ online system. Alternatively, they can be delivered physically, at the reception desks of the Registrar’s offices or by mail.
What are the grounds for objecting to a probate order?
The objection must rest on one of the grounds for invalidating a will set out in the Inheritance Law. These are commonly divided into technical grounds and substantive grounds.
The technical grounds rest on defects in the formal manner in which the will was made. In general, there are four types of wills that can be made, each with its own formal requirements: a witnessed will, a handwritten will, a will before an authority, and an oral will.
For example, a handwritten will must be written entirely in the testator’s own hand, dated in his hand, and signed by him. If such a will has some defect in the way it was made, say it is undated, the court may still grant it a probate order in certain circumstances, provided it has no doubt that the will reflects the testator’s free and genuine wishes, and provided it was written entirely by the testator. Absent those conditions, no probate order can be granted, and the will must be rejected.
The substantive grounds rest on defects that go to the substance of how the will came into being. These include, for example, cases where it turns out the testator made the will under unfair influence by one of the beneficiaries, who applied psychological pressure or exploited the testator’s dependence on him, or where the testator was simply not capable of understanding that he was signing a will, typically because he was elderly and suffering from dementia.
How is an objection to a probate order decided?
Once an objection to a probate application is filed, the Registrar of Inheritance Matters must transfer it, together with the application file, to the Family Court. The court hears the case on the parties’ arguments and the evidence they submit, and decides it in its judgment.
Formally, the plaintiff in the case is the person who applied for the probate order, and the defendant is the person who filed the objection.
The burden of proof lies with the objector. Case law holds that for the objection to succeed, the objector must present weighty, substantial evidence that persuades the court that the will is invalid and should be struck down.
If the court ultimately accepts the objection, it invalidates the will and denies the probate application. Unless another valid will stands in place of the invalidated one, the testator’s estate is then distributed under the statutory inheritance rules.
If the court ultimately rejects the objection, it grants the application and orders the issuance of a probate order for the will.
* Updated for 2026
