Trusts & Trustees – Alon Kaplan & Meytal Liberman

Abstract – How to use a trust as an alternative to a will to transfer assets to the next generation? This article will answer this question by first introducing the reader to inheritance and trust law in Israel. It will explore the endowment and how it should be used in order to regulate the transfer of assets to the next generation—how a trust should be set up and how assets should be transferred to it. The conclusion drawn from this analysis points out the key elements which should be considered when creating a trust to survive death under Israeli law.

Alon Kaplan | Lyat Eyal | Meytal Liberman

אלון קפלן

חוקיות פריצה למאגר מידע של עורך דין ולקוחו

Alon Kaplan

Dr. Alon Kaplan

Dr. Alon Kaplan

Alon Kaplan

Alon Kaplan & Meytal Liberman

Israel has long been a ‘home’ for many international families. The Law of Trust, the Law of Contract, and the Law of Agency together form the legal framework for Trusts and estate planning in Israel.

Alon Kaplan & Meytal Liberman

Real estate trust in Israel is a useful legal structure for families who wish to register real property in the name of a corporate body acting as a ‘transparent entity’ and keep tax advantages granted to individual persons. This structure may be found particularly useful and efficient for non-Israeli families that decide to invest in real estate in Israel or have a second home for the family compound.

Alon Kaplan & Meytal Liberman

Alon Kaplan

Alon Kaplan & Meytal Liberman

Alon Kaplan, Ed Powles, Emma-Jane Weider, Lyat Eyal, Robert Santia, Rachel Blumenfeld, Stanley A. Barg & Eric Dorsch

Political changes worldwide, results of general elections such as in the USA or UK, and various changes in the relevant jurisdictions, including relating to tax payments, or amendments to tax benefits, result in greater movement of individuals between various countries. While not all immigration/emigration is tax related, professionals are seeing immigration to jurisdictions granting tax benefits, and emigration from those countries, amending their advantageous regimes. In addition, although outside the scope of this article, certain jurisdictions grant citizenship rights coupled with certain investment opportunities in those jurisdictions.

Alon Kaplan

Books – Contribution of chapters on Israel

Alon Kaplan

Books – Contribution of chapters on Israel

Alon Kaplan, Lyat Eyal and Diana Apelboim Ladovsky

Alon Kaplan & Meytal Liberman

Alon Kaplan, Lyat Eyal and Daniel Paserman

Alon Kaplan and Lyat Eyal

The article reviews the Israeli Banking Ordinance 1941, whose provisions relating to joint ownership of assets in Israel are quite unique in Israeli law. Non-residents, both clients and professionals, owning assets in Israel, unfamiliar with local laws and accustomed to the laws in their relevant jurisdictions, are often surprised. Estate planning, including the establishment of inter-vivos structures, such as foundations and trusts, may resolve some of the issues. This article will not discuss basic issues but rather the manner in which trusts and foundations may remove various obstacles for non-residents who are not familiar with Israeli laws. For the purpose of this article, we consider the Israeli Hekdesh coupled with an Israeli underlying company as a foundation, as this arrangement may be used to hold assets under a trust in Israel.

Alon Kaplan & Meytal Liberman

Alon Kaplan and Lyat Eyal

Alon Kaplan, Lyat Eyal and Meytal Liberman

Alon Kaplan

Alon Kaplan and Lyat Eyal

Alon Kaplan, Lyat Eyal and Meir Linzen

Alon Kaplan and Lyat Eyal

Freedom of succession has created many discussions over the past few months for estate and trust professionals. This is mainly due to the EU Regulation, which for many is a significant development towards freedom of succession. Israel is a country of immigration and emigration. As movement of individuals between different jurisdictions is relatively simple, and the global world is relatively small, individuals tend to travel, and change their jurisdiction of residence (or domicile, as the different jurisdictions may permit), with assets and family members in different countries subject to different laws. This makes estate planning and, later, implementation of the plan complicated. The EU Regulation aims to resolve some of these issues.

Alon Kaplan and Lyat Eyal

This article treats the Israeli Hekdesh coupled with an Israeli underlying company as a foundation. It summarizes the taxation of foundations and trusts in Israel, as well as the main provisions of the relevant legislation as revised in 2013 which is now final and effective. The article then continues to discuss the appointment of protectors under Israeli law. Finally, the article provides for an interpretation of the arbitration law as it relates to foundations and trusts.

Alon Kaplan & Shlomo Kerem

Alon Kaplan and Lyat Eyal

Alon Kaplan and Lyat Eyal

Autumn 2014, Vol. 27, No.2

Alon Kaplan, Lyat Eyal and Shai Dover

The long awaited publication of the voluntary disclosre procedure in Israel came to light on 7 September 2014. As the global trend evidences, this procedure provides taxpayers with the opportunity to disclose unreported income and assets. There are a number of thresholds to pass in order to be eligible for the proceudure, as listed below: Applications are to be submitted to the Deputy Director for Investigation and Intelligence Unit at the Israel Tax Authority who is solely authorized to approve them. Each application will include all relevant information, including, inter alia, applicant’s name, relevant tax years, source of income, details of the amount of unreported income, and estimated tax payment. Once the application is approved, it is referred to the relevant assessment officer who determines the tax liability, including taxes owed, linkage, interest, and civil fines. Upon the…

Alon Kaplan and Lyat Eyal

The summer of 2013 marked a change in Israel’s tax laws, most significantly as they relate to the taxation of trusts and real estate transactions. The Law on the Change of National Priorities (or more commonly known as the ‘Arrangements Law’), passed for budget purposes, amended various laws, including the Income Tax Ordinance [5721] 1961. This article summarizes the amendments regarding the new taxation affecting both Israeli as well as foreign trusts and foundations and the specific changes to real estate taxation for non-residents. The amendments in these two areas are of importance to non-residents as they henceforth may be subject to taxes in areas in which they were previously entitled to exemptions

Alon Kaplan Lyat Eyal and Shai Dover

Alon Kaplan Lyat Eyal and Shai Dover

Alon Kaplan and Lyat Eyal

Alon Kaplan & Susanna von Bassewitz

Alon Kaplan and Lyat Eyal

In Israel, local laws and governmental agencies regulate estate and inheritance matters. Consequently, in order to distribute estate assets, a petition for an inheritance or probate order must be filed locally. Such filings may be avoided by the establishment of a trust during one’s lifetime. By transferring assets to a trust/Hekdesh, they no longer form part of the individual’s estate upon death, and no court orders are then required to transfer the assets to the heirs. Since a trust is not a separate legal entity, a trustee may establish an Israeli underlying company to hold the assets for the trust.

Alon Kaplan

Alon Kaplan

Alon Kaplan and Alan Krost

The article illustrates that the Hekdesh, which is a special type of trust existing under Israeli law, is in fact similar to a foundation. The article discusses the law relating to the Hekdesh and highlights the features of the Hekdesh focusing on the similarities to a foundation and emphasizing its advantages over a foundation.