Sveta Vashkevich
We (myself and my husband) came to Mr. Joshua Pex – for his professional advice – and we received such human warmth and caring attitude, that our hearts melted …
His attention to our details and our situation peculiarities, combined with his professionalism and knowledge, helped us to map out what needs to be done on our part: we appreciate and recommend You, Mr. Joshua!
Andreas Kelling
We have been working with Decker, Pex & Co - Law Firm in Tel Aviv for many years very well. Because we appreciated their lawyers services, we recommended businesses and individuals again and again to go there as well.
Matthias Oppliger
I have been receiving services from this Law Firm for several years now and I want to say THANK YOU to the team, especially Joshua Pex. They are doing outstanding work. The services I have received for both our Israeli non profit association but also our social business have helped us solve many issues at hand and provided solutions in complicated situations. Personally, I am grateful for support in visa issues as a foreigner living now in Israel for many years.
Israel iluz
We were very satisfied with the service of Nehama. She was very professional in all her dealings and kept us informed all the way.
We highly recommend this law firm. They proved to be reliable, efficient and pleasant to work with.
Dumitrascu Cristina
Best lawyer house from Israel! I couldn’t dealt with my situation without their professionalism and effectiveness. Their dedication to every legal aspect and their drive it’s how a true lawyer house can be!
Working in European market and international now, I couldn’t dare to let myself wide my wings on countries unknown to me. Definitely they’ll be the lawyers representing me, my business at every international aspect and on personal development.
When you hear Decker,Pex,Ofir &Co, you hear 10+ class services, luxurious professionals, confidentiality and exclusive attention to your needs.
Morgan Jones
The team at Decker, Pex & Co have been awesome to work with in helping our US company establish banking in Israel and in providing counsel for legal needs in Israel. I highly recommend!
Halvor Ronning
Courteous, clear, efficient service.
Arielle Bosch
Incredibly knowledgeable, approachable, accessible, and evident across the board that they truly care about the people they are helping. They are quick to respond, engaged, and obviously top-notch lawyers. I couldn't recommend them highly enough. Thank you, Joshua and Itamar for your help with our Joint Life Application. You were a calming energy during a storm - always breathed a sigh of relief after speaking with you. It is so difficult to get straight answers from the Misrad Hapnim, but you guys are straight shooters. I appreciate your candor and evident integrity. Hope to work with you in the future, and will send everyone I know in need of legal aid your way. Thank you for your guidance and support.
Amir Abt
The best lawyer firm I’ve had dealt with. I would like to thank Anat Levi and Ariel Galili from the Jerusalem branch for all of their efforts and patience, we could not have been Able to reach to where we are now without them
Alexander P Gutterman
EU PASSPORT ! Big news! Thanks to Michael Decker and the other good people at the law office, as well as to the virtue of my ancestors, the cruelty of the Inquisition, reparations issued in the Iberian Peninsula, and etc, I am delighted to be on track for Portuguese and European Union Citizenship! A truly incredible development and one which brings me deep joy.
Greg Olson
We highly recommend Adv. Mike Decker and have know him for many years. He has helped our family with many battles over the years. We recently received our permanent residency after 23 years in Israel. We so much appreciate Mike’s representation of us.
Schruuf
We were very pleased and content with the services of this law firm. They supported us 100% and solved our case successfully, we couldn't be happier.
Joshua Pex was both an amazing human being and an inspiring human rights attorney. I reported directly to him for various activities I performed as in intern. I was impressed with his incredibly solid character. He is trustworthy, fair, and goes above and beyond to advocate for the vulnerable. He is completely trustworthy and high caliber in his work. His partners and employees are very blessed to work with him. I am honored to know them.
Heather Lebrun
Genaan Abdelall
I cannot recommend Nechama enough! Her expertise, professionalism, and dedication to her clients is unparalleled. From the moment I reached out to her, she provided clear and concise communication, and helped me navigate through a complex legal issue with ease.
Throughout the entire process, Nechama went above and beyond to ensure that I was informed and comfortable with every decision. She demonstrated a deep knowledge of the law, and was able to offer sound advice that ultimately led to a positive outcome.
What sets Nechama apart is her compassionate and empathetic approach to her clients. She truly cares about the well-being of her clients, and it shows in the way she handles every case.
If you are in need of a lawyer, I highly recommend Nechama.
Prima Lorenzo
I admire the Austrian citizenship team in Tel-Aviv branch! They deserve more then 5 stars!! They are very friendly and professional. I've got Austrian citizenship in 4 months for all family members which consists of 12 people! The entire team is very friendly and responsive. They are always answering questions and support during the process. I recommend to everyone. Was 100% satisfied.
Michael and Ariellah Waizman
For Advocate Joshua Pex.
We were in a devastating situation when my wife received an order from the immigration office to leave Israel within 30 days, without any explanation, after we have been married and in the process for six and a half years. We heard of Advocate Pex through a friend of a friend. We contacted Mr. Pex and he was ready to help us when he heard of our situation.
The service is amazing! Always ready to assist without regard to the time it takes. The advice Mr. Pex gave us was great, such as what to do, he gave useful links, and advice about which officials to contact. The price for the service was great!
The process until we received the extension for another year for my wife was not long (3 months). Things started moving once Mr. Pex came into the picture.
We highly recommend Advocate Joshua Pex! We achieved our goal and the fear of deportation has been lifted!
Dongdiet & Nellie
We are very happy with the services. Somehow they managed to translate the law lingo into language we actually understand 😉 and their outstanding YouTube videos helped us to have a better grasp of what process we had to go through. Their patience, clear explanation and experience are very valuable. It's also very nice to know that you will receive response promptly; it made us feel we can really trust their services. We recommend all those looking for immigration lawyers to get in touch.
Marce Ruth St. Rey
Party time in the heart, my beloved husband received his residence after so much time of battles and faith. Gratitude, God has blessed us with wonderful beings who have accompanied us, including a "precious angel" who touched our hearts, our excellent and fantastic lawyer: Maria Chernin Dekel, sweet and wonderful human being, who has guided us and stayed On our side. side in this intense legal transit whom we bless on every occasion. God bless you dear Maria, you have exceeded your professional duty by containing us and collaborating with us in hard times, very hard, for that we want to thank you publicly, you are unique!!!
We bless and thank the entire team at Decker Pex Tal Ofir Law Firm.
Jacob Newberry
A really excellent firm. They knew exactly how to handle my situation effectively and efficiently, and we got the result I needed without much fuss. Adi Berger was a wonderful advocate for me and I am deeply grateful for her help!
Gáspár Erőss
If you need to solve any complicated legal issue in Israel, don't hesitate to contact them. Otherwise you will loose hours/days/weeks with things that they can solve in minutes. They helped me to obtain my expert working visa in Israel and even after that they responded further questions and gave me advices related to administrative issues in Israel which saved me a lot of time. Irena Rosenberg and Michael Decker worked on my case, they are very professional and helpful. They will not let you down, feel free to contact them.
YK C
We had a pleasure of working with Irena Rosenberg who assisted in getting our two U.S. born children registered in Israel and supported visa process for my wife in 2021. During the pandemic, my wife and I decided to move to Israel where I am originally from after living in the U.S. for over 20 years, but we had no idea how to go about securing visas before and after arriving in Israel. Irena is knowledgeable, reliable and competent lawyer who always had answers to all our questions which made us feel confident that everything would be fine with her assistance. We are now happily living in Israel and are so grateful to have Irena who is a genuinely nice person as our lawyer.
Eden Weiss
Extrmely friendly, professional and helpful. A big thank you to Irina especially from the Jerusalem office. Highly Recommended.
TarcisioePotira Freitas
I really recommend the law office's services. The service is very professional and efficient, the price is right. I am satisfied with the services I needed and happy to have known them.
Наталья Мажуга
Great lawyers Joshua Pex and Nechama and Michael Deker who really want to help you and I have very trustful relationships with them. All my cases they took they won. Thank you and let’s keep working together
Sophie Cooperman
Oded Ger did an excellent job by reviewing a modeling contract I was offered. Explained the bad clauses in the contract, and their possible consequences. Thank you for your amazing job, your professionalism, your consultation and honesty. You showed me from your experience how it can be done differently. It was the best decision choosing you as my lawyer.
I highly recommend this firm, especially Oded Ger.
Sergei m Vashkevich
We came to Mr. Joshua with so many questions (and most of all, with so many concerns and worries) …
When we explained our case to him, first of all, he calmed us down and helped us to see the big picture, which took away our fears;
Then he presented us with a detailed explanation and a few options to explore, and a timeline, how things work and necessary steps to undertake on our part,
We thank and highly recommend Mr. Joshua for showing us so much empathy, care and professionalism (!)
Lilian Granovsky
I can highly recommend these services!
Every time we turned to Joshua we always got a professional quick and helpful respond.
Shaltiel Devorah
Mr. Joshua Pex is knowledgeable and Professional. I really appreciate his courteous and direct approach.
Priscilla Moses
competent consulting, fast processing, reliable, warm & good team. highly recommended
Stuart Safft
I am delighted to report that my wife and I have just obtained our Israeli citizenship. We will be forever grateful for all of the help, guidance and support which Ariel Galili of Decker, Pex & Co. provided through this process.
I am a Jewish, 80-year-old American, and my wife is not Jewish. We had started the process on our own back in November 2020 via the Jewish Agency and Nefesh B’Nefesh, but soon became entangled in the delays and often-changing regulations due to Covid-19. The pandemic also caused delays in obtaining the required apostilles for various documents from various state agencies and the US State Department.
We found Decker, Pex & Co. On the internet and began working with Ariel in late November 2021. Ariel did a superb job of leading us through the process, helping us to understand which documents were essential, which would most likely be required, and which, though included on the list of required documents, were rarely required. He helped us several times to understand what was likely and unlikely to occur as “the next step.” Helping us manage our expectations was extremely useful to us.
Besides his knowing the laws, regulations and procedures, Ariel also made us feel that he was truly interested in helping us to successfully work through this process in as smooth, timely, and frustration-free manner as possible.
My wife and I strongly recommend anyone planning to go through this process seriously consider hiring Decker, Pex, Ofir & Co. and, specifically, Ariel Galili.
lynn vonne
Excellent service, very friendly and helpful, fast responding and very patient. Highly recommend. I will choose them again next time if needed.
Michelle Long
Josh has been helping me on and off for a few years now. I have needed legal advice and assistance with immigration due to a complex situation of mine, and he has been extremely available and responsive, honest and clear about my route and how to proceed. Very much recommended!
Kfir Cohen
We were searching for a law firm that will be honest with us and really work hard for a satisfying result, it wasn't an easy task
We found them online; they were the only law firm from all of our searchings which were completely honest and NOT gave us just what we wanted to hear
Using them guaranteed honesty above all. A legal team that is friendly and cares for a superb result
They really care about helping their customers without any other interest
Nadia gave us service behind what we expected; she was professional which lead to fast and easy process with great result
We definitely recommend using them
Yossi Montrose
Very knowledgeable and professional
Paul Prince
The team of lawyers and assistants are incredibly professional. Aiming to give their clients the advice possible regarding the normative and the law of Israel. With well trained and professional secretary at the front desk to the lawyers team, I could say that I had one of the most professional services possible. I'm super glad of choosing Joshua Pex of Law office for immigration solution, lawyers to advise in my case, to me, it is remarkable.
To inherit the property of a person who passed away in a different country than the one where the property is located, a foreign expert legal opinion is often needed. The legal opinion is submitted by a foreign law expert, who is proficient in the laws of the foreign country.
Which cases require an Australian foreign legal opinion? Who is a foreign law expert? These questions and others are answered in this article by the attorneys at our offices.
The need for a foreign legal opinion
A foreign legal opinion is often needed when dealing with issues of wills and inheritance, real estate deals that involve foreign companies, and enforcement of foreign court rulings.
The laws that determine the requirement for a foreign legal opinion (in the relevant cases) are: The Israeli Inheritance Law – 1965 and clause 10(B) of the Real Estate Regulations (management and registration) – 2011 which states that if one of the parties to the deal is a foreign corporation, in addition to the bill of sale there must be a certificate of approval from an attorney who is proficient in the laws of the country where the corporation is registered, stating that the corporation is qualified to carry out the transaction based on those laws. In addition, a foreign legal opinion is required under the Foreign Rulings Enforcement Law – 1958.
Foreign legal opinion – wills and inheritance
The most common cases in which a foreign expert legal opinion is needed are those dealing with the inheritance of a person who lived abroad and left behind property in Israel. This property can be real estate assets as well as bank accounts, pension funds, securities, etc.
The Inheritance Law states that a court in Israel is authorized to hear the bequest of any person who resided in Israel on the day of their death or left assets in Israel. The Inheritance Law also states that the law of the deceased’s last place of residence applies to the inheritance he or she bequeathed.
In other words, if an Australian citizen passed away in Australia, and left behind property in Israel, the Israeli family court will need an Australian foreign expert legal opinion regarding the law that applies to the deceased’s assets.
Therefore, in order to probate the will or obtain an inheritance decree, the beneficiaries must submit an application to the Inheritance Registrar at the place where the bequeathed property is located and attach an expert foreign legal opinion to the application. The Inheritance Registrar will turn the file over to the family court. Based on the court’s judgement, the Australian foreign law expert may be required to testify in court and even undergo cross-examination.
The phrase “the deceased’s last place of residence” often raises questions and uncertainty. For instance, consider a businessperson who has bank accounts in Israel, lived in a rented apartment in New Zealand before their death, but were the owners of a house in Australia, in which their children and siblings live. Was New Zealand their last place of residence, or was it perhaps Australia? In such a case, the “maximum linkages” test will be applied, which will determine which place the deceased was most strongly connected to at the time of their death.
Several different foreign legal opinions
A foreign legal inheritance opinion does not have to be the only opinion submitted to the Inheritance Registrar. In other words, if there is a disagreement between the beneficiaries, each party is allowed to bring a foreign legal expert as a witness on their behalf. It is very important to choose a foreign law expert who is thoroughly proficient in the foreign law, because many times the party that shows more proficiency will be the one that wins the case. An example of a case in which the court required an Australian foreign expert legal opinion on the subject of wills and inheritances can be found in Inheritance Case (טב’) 942-07-09 (executor) v. the Haifa General Power of Attorney. The family court in Tiberias accepted the petition of an executor to approve the division of the inheritance among the beneficiaries as suggested by him, even though they were not the original beneficiaries in the deceased’s will. The court ruled that the requested process fits the language and purpose of the Inheritance Law and the supposed intent and wishes of the testator.
The petitioner was the executor of the deceased in Australia and he filed a petition to probate the will. The deceased’s last place of residence was Australia, and according to his will the beneficiaries were Israeli institutions. Along with the probate petition, a foreign expert Australian legal opinion was submitted, by which it was made clear that Australian law applies the laws of the country where the real estate property (which is part of the inheritance) is located.
Subsequently, it was ruled that the Israeli law provisions must be applied to the probate order – in this case the provisions of the Inheritance Law and the relevant interpretations of the law.
Thus, in order to know what law must be applied to the inheritance in Israel, the court required an Australian foreign expert legal opinion, as required by the Inheritance Law.
Foreign legal opinion – real estate deals
By law, a foreign expert legal opinion must be submitted to the court when discussing real estate deals that involve foreign corporations. As stated, according to clause 10 (B) to the Real Estate Regulations, when executing a real estate deal in which one of the parties is a foreign corporation, a foreign legal opinion is needed in order to register the deal in the Land Registry Office.
The law states that when one of the parties in the deal is a foreign corporation, documents and certificates must be attached to the bill of sale that prove the existence of the corporation and a certificate of approval from an attorney confirming that the corporation is authorized to carry out the transaction. In addition, a certificate of approval must be attached by an attorney who is proficient in the laws of the foreign country where the corporation is registered, stating that the corporation is qualified to carry out the deal according to the foreign country’s laws.
Therefore, if one of the parties in the real estate deal is a registered corporation in Melbourne, for instance, an Australian foreign expert legal opinion is required in order to register the deal in the Land Registry Office.
Generally, a legal opinion is required in real estate deals like these, because there are some countries that do not allow corporations to acquire real estate outside of their territory. Some countries require that real estate transactions such as these are brought for special approval by the authorities.
Who is a foreign law expert?
The Supreme Court ruled in civil appeal 6796/97 Berg Jacob and Sons (furniture) V. Berg East Imports Inc. that it is difficult to determine precisely who may be considered an expert in foreign law; however, a lawyer or jurist who deals with the required foreign law through practice, academia, or otherwise, has the required qualifications for this purpose, meaning: they can serve as an expert witness by whom the foreign law can be proven.
The court noted that if the expert’s testimony is not contradicted by another piece of evidence, the court will tend to accept it. It is important to note that a foreign expert opinion is a legal opinion, which follows the format of an affidavit.
Contact us for assistance in obtaining an expert opinion
Our offices specialize, among other things, in preparing foreign expert legal opinions regarding wills and inheritance, for cases where a foreign resident lived in a foreign country and left behind property in Israel. Likewise, our offices accompany foreign corporations in the process of registering real estate deals in Israel, and supply foreign legal opinions as required by the real estate regulations.
We are glad to be at your service and assist you in a quick and professional manner with everything regarding foreign legal opinions.
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A Foreign Legal Opinion in Israel Inheritance Law