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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
lynn vonne
Excellent service, very friendly and helpful, fast responding and very patient. Highly recommend. I will choose them again next time if needed.
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.
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
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.
Eden Weiss
Extrmely friendly, professional and helpful. A big thank you to Irina especially from the Jerusalem office. Highly Recommended.
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!
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, Ofir & 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, Ofir & 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.
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.
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.
Priscilla Moses
competent consulting, fast processing, reliable, warm & good team. highly recommended
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.
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.
Morgan Jones
The team at Decker, Pex, Ofir & 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!
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.
Yossi Montrose
Very knowledgeable and professional
Halvor Ronning
Courteous, clear, efficient service.
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
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.
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!
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.
Shaltiel Devorah
Mr. Joshua Pex is knowledgeable and Professional. I really appreciate his courteous and direct approach.
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.
Andreas Kelling
We have been working with Decker, Pex Ofir & 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.
Lilian Granovsky
I can highly recommend these services!
Every time we turned to Joshua we always got a professional quick and helpful respond.
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
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.

When a petition for probate or succession is submitted in Israel to the Inheritance Registrar regarding a person who was a foreign resident (living outside of Israel) at the time of death, it is necessary to attach a foreign legal opinion. If the deceased was a foreign resident living in the USA, then an American legal opinion is required.
Our law firm helps obtain foreign legal opinions. The current article explains when a US expert legal opinion is required, who is considered a foreign law expert for this purpose, and what the opinion should include.
American Legal Opinion
As stated above, if the deceased lived in the United States (or any other foreign country) and left behind property in Israel, a foreign legal opinion is required in order to inherit that property.
An American legal opinion is also required for enforcement of foreign judgments, as well as class actions, civil lawsuits that include tort and contractual claims, and other matters relating to U.S. law.
Foreign Legal Opinions – Inheritances and Wills
Section 136 of the Succession Law, 5725-1965 provides that the courts in Israel are authorized to hear the inheritance of a person whose place of residence at the time of death was in Israel, or who left behind assets in Israel. Section 137 provides that the inheritance shall be subject to the law of the testator’s place of residence at the time of death.
Sometimes a person leaves behind assets in Israel despite not having been an Israeli resident. For example: the deceased may have resided in New York and, after their death, it turns out that they left behind an apartment in Israel that is registered in their name. In such a case, for the heirs to receive the apartment, they must attach an American legal opinion to the petition for succession or probate.
It is probable that the assets left behind by a foreign resident will be located where that resident lived – in the example above, the USA. The heirs, in this case, will need to file a petition for succession or probate in the USA. However, a probate order in the United States is not automatically recognized in Israel and, to exercise their right to the property in Israel, the heirs will need to obtain a foreign legal opinion and attach it to their petition for probate in Israel.
If the deceased did not leave behind an apartment but, rather, a life insurance policy or a provident fund with specific beneficiaries, there is usually no need for a succession order or probate order, nor for a foreign legal opinion.
What is a Foreign Legal Opinion?
A foreign legal opinion is an opinion of a law expert that follows the format of an affidavit and contains an explanation of the law that applies to the deceased’s inheritance in their main place of residence at the time of their death. In the example above, the deceased’s place of residence was New York, so the foreign legal opinion would state the view New York inheritance law would have of the matter.
Similarly, if the deceased left behind a will and was a resident of another state, such as Illinois – an opinion would need to be submitted examining whether the will is valid according to the laws of Illinois.
The foreign legal opinion must be submitted by someone who is proficient in the laws of the relevant state and has a license to practice law in that state.

Who Is Considered a Foreign Law Expert?
In Jacob Berg and Sons (Furniture) Ltd v Berg East Imports Inc (CA 6796/97), PD 54(1) 697, the Israeli Supreme Court discussed the question of enforcing a judgment given in New Jersey, and whether a foreign law expert who was certified in New York is qualified to give a legal opinion in a New Jersey court as well.
The Supreme Court decided in the affirmative, and stated that it saw no basis for the appellant’s claim that a witness must appear in foreign courts to be considered an expert in foreign law. The Court also stated that it is difficult to say exactly who may be considered an expert in foreign law; however, a lawyer or jurist who deals with law through practice, academia, or otherwise, has the required qualifications to serve as a witness with expertise in the relevant foreign law. If the expert’s testimony is not objected to by any other evidence, the court will tend to accept it, except in cases where it is not convincing.
In addition, and in accordance with the words of the Late Prof. Menashe Shawa in his article “The Nature and Manner of Proving Foreign Law in Anglo-American Law and Israeli Law,” an expert in foreign law is one of the following:
- a lawyer (or judge) who practices, or has practiced in the past, the relevant foreign law;
- a jurist who holds an official position that requires knowledge of the relevant law system (even if the jurist never practiced that law);
- another person (even if that person is not a jurist) who, due to their profession or occupation, was given the opportunity to acquire knowledge of the relevant law.
A Typical Foreign Law Expert – A Lawyer with Experience in Foreign Law
Another interesting case involving the enforcement of a judgment was brought before the Family Affairs Court in Tel Aviv-Yafo. The question arose as to whether two judgments of the Supreme Court of California, regarding child maintenance and legal expenses, were enforceable in Israel. Judge Yehoram Shaked rejected the defendant’s claims that the foreign law expert who presented a legal opinion on behalf of the plaintiff was not authorized to do so.
The Court ruled that the expert’s legal opinion was based on practical experience in all areas of American and Israeli civil law, including American family law. The expert practiced American law, including in California, for many years, and this qualifies as meeting the requirements of being considered a foreign law expert, in accordance with the rules of case law and the literature.
The Court further ruled that the defendant is not obligated by law to present a counter-opinion; but, having not presented one, the defendant’s claims should not be accepted, and there is room to accept the legal opinion of the foreign law expert.
Conclusion
There are cases where the opinion of a foreign law expert is required. It is important to choose an expert who has extensive experience, knowledge, and proficiency in the foreign law of the relevant country. The legal opinion will be provided after examining the relevant data and the concrete circumstances of the case.
Our law firm has lawyers who provide American and other foreign legal opinions. We are in contact with lawyers from the United States and other countries who are also qualified to give legal opinions.
We will be happy to help you with any questions and concerns that you may have on foreign legal opinions – including how to obtain and submit one.
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: Menachem Begin St 150, Tel Aviv-Yafo
Hillel St 23, Jerusalem