Cross-border estate planning between Australia and Israel requires careful structuring to ensure a will is legally valid, enforceable and effective across both jurisdictions. A will drafted in one country is not automatically recognised in the other, and differences between Australian common law and Israel’s Succession Law, 5725-1965, can create unintended delays or outcomes.
The key issue is not whether a will exists, but whether it operates as intended in each jurisdiction where assets are held.
One Will or Two?
Relying on a single will to cover assets in both countries generally creates more administrative drag than it saves translations, apostilles, foreign legal opinions and probate delays in both jurisdictions before anything can be distributed.
The more practical structure is a concurrent will strategy, an Australian will governing Australian-situs assets such as superannuation, property and bank accounts, and a separate Israeli will, a Tzava’a, governing Israeli-situs assets such as real estate, bank accounts and company shares.
This structure carries one common trap. A boilerplate revocation clause (“I hereby revoke all prior wills”) in a newly executed will can inadvertently void the companion will in the other country. Avoiding this requires jurisdiction-specific carving clauses and reciprocal references, so each will only revoke prior wills dealing with the same jurisdiction’s assets.
Real estate is generally governed by the law of where it sits, while cash and shares generally follow the law of the deceased domicile, which is part of why one document rarely fits both categories cleanly.
Recognition of Foreign Wills in Israel
Australia and Israel are both contracting parties to the 1961 Hague Convention on the Form of Testamentary Dispositions, Australia since 1986 and Israel since 1977, so a will validly executed under an Australian state’s laws will generally be recognised as formally valid in Israel. Recognition in principle is not recognition without paperwork.
The Guardian General and Director of Inheritance Affairs, which administers Israel’s Registrar of Succession Affairs, typically requires a Foreign Legal Opinion, an affidavit from an Australian legal expert confirming the will’s validity under the relevant state’s laws, along with an apostille from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on the death certificate and original will, and a certified Hebrew translation.
Trusts and Israeli Succession Law
Discretionary family trusts, common in Australian planning, have no direct equivalent under Israeli civil law. The Israel Tax Authority classifies foreign trusts by the tax residency of the settlor and beneficiaries, and an Australian trust that was entirely uncontroversial at home can trigger reporting obligations, or tax exposure, the moment a beneficiary makes Aliyah or becomes an Israeli tax resident.
A testamentary trust structured with this classification in mind from the outset can still protect a foreign inheritance without triggering double taxation, but this needs to be built in at drafting stage rather than fixed after the fact.
Probate Across Two Jurisdictions
Administration generally runs as a sequence rather than in parallel. Probate is first obtained from the relevant Australian State Supreme Court. The resulting death certificate and will then go through DFAT apostille and certified Hebrew translation before an application can be made to the Registrar of Succession Affairs for an Israeli Probate Order or Succession Order, supported by the Foreign Legal Opinion.
Once issued, that order is shared digitally with Israel’s Land Registry, Tax Authority and banks, so it does not need to be presented separately to each. Appointing an Israeli-resident co-executor, or granting a cross-border power of attorney, materially speeds up bank releases and property transfers, since local institutions act faster on locally present instructions than on correspondence from overseas.
Tax and Capital Gains Considerations
Neither country imposes a formal inheritance tax, as the ATO confirms for Australian beneficiaries, and transfers by inheritance are similarly not a taxable event in Israel. That does not mean the transfer is cost-free.
CGT event K3, under section 104-215 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth), can trigger an immediate capital gains liability on the estate itself when an Australian asset that is not taxable Australian property passes to a foreign resident beneficiary, including an Israeli tax resident.
On the Israeli side, coordinating asset realisation properly can avoid the same gain being taxed twice, which generally requires advisers on both sides working from the same facts rather than each assuming what the other jurisdiction will do.
Strategic Estate Planning for Cross-Border Assets
The appropriate structure depends on the size and complexity of the estate, the location of assets, and the relevant family circumstances. As a general guide, a single Will may be suitable for modest estates with limited cross-border complexity. Dual Wills are typically preferable where assets, trust structures, or family members exist in both jurisdictions.
Acting early, before either jurisdiction’s probate process is engaged, preserves control over the administration of the estate. Without this planning, outcomes are more likely to be dictated by parallel probate processes operating across two jurisdictions, often based on incomplete or inconsistent instructions.
At Warlows Legal, our Israel Legal Advice team works closely with our Wills, Trusts and Estate Law practice to deliver coordinated cross-border estate planning. This includes preparing synchronised Wills, structuring trusts with Israeli legal classification in mind, and managing probate processes through to final asset distribution.
If you hold assets, family connections, or citizenship in both Australia and Israel, contact our team to undertake a cross-border estate audit before it becomes necessary in practice.
Disclaimer: The information on this website is general in nature and is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. Accessing or reading this article does not create a solicitor‑client relationship. For advice relating to your specific legal circumstances, please contact our firm directly to consult a lawyer.
