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Historical Introduction - Chapter 1 - Trusts and Estate Planning in Israel - Second Edition
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This chapter is from Trusts and Estate Planning in Israel, Second Edition
PAGE PREVIEW Israel is a small country, about the same size as Belgium in Europe or New Jersey in North America. It is located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and has excellent access by air and sea to Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. As the Middle East peace process moves forward, Israel’s strategic position and human resources will make it a central pillar of economic trade in the region.
Israel’s population growth has been phenomenal and there is a continual influx of new immigrants from around the world. In 1882 there were only 24,000 Jews in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire. In 1914, the number was 94,000, decreasing during WWI to 55,000. Continued immigration through the 1920s and 1930s, plus an enormous wave in the first years of the state, led to a Jewish population of almost 1.5 million by 1951.
By 1990, the population reached almost 4 million and a new wave of immigration from the countries of the former Soviet Union brought the 1996 population to 5.6 million. At the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, the population was just over 800 thousand. Israel’s current population is over eight million. The Jewish population is 75.3 percent of the total; the Arab population is 20.7 percent with other religions and those without religious affiliation being 4four percent.
These figures demonstrate the enormous task faced by the Israeli government and society in providing the necessary financial, legal and social services to such a large community of immigrants, from over 70 countries, with great differences in culture and background.
The history of Israeli law reflects the history of the country in modern times, from the Ottoman period through the British mandate and to the present day. Israeli law is a multi-layered system of law based on legal principles drawn from the Ottoman period and the British Mandate, with echoes of traditional Jewish law. As we will see, Israel built its system of law on its own, and can now be proud of its modern, independent, legal system.
Dr. Alon Kaplan, Advocate & Notary, is a member of the Israel Bar and was admitted as a member of the New York and Frankfurt Bars. He is the President and founder of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners “STEP Israel”. Academically speaking, he has a Ph.D. from Zurich University in Switzerland and an LL.B. and LL.M. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr. Kaplan maintains a direct and close relationship with academia, and he was a lecturer on trusts in the Academic Management College, Reichman University, and the Law Faculty of Tel Aviv University, where he taught trust courses for LL.M. students. Dr. Kaplan is a popular lecturer on trusts in Israel and abroad. He constructed the academic program for the Trusts Diploma of STEP in Israel. Throughout his professional career, he has written numerous professional articles in legal journals, on matters of trusts, intergenerational asset transfers and selected commercial law topics such as agent and distributor laws, a topic which he researched for his LL.M. thesis. Dr. Kaplan has been a regular contributor of articles to Trusts & Trustees by Oxford University Press. He has written and edited numerous professional books, among these on doing business in Israel, on trusts in Israel, and on international trusts laws. His book, Trusts and Estate Planning in Israel, is a professional and comprehensive guidebook for practitioners in this area in Israel. Another important book in English is Trusts in Prime Jurisdictions, fifth edition, 2020 which reviews trusts in various jurisdictions by 19 authors from various jurisdictions. In December 2020 he was the co-editor of the book, Life Cycle of a Family Business, published in London. Meytal Liberman, Advocate and Notary, TEP, advises private clients in Israel and internationally on trusts and estate planning. Her services include legal structuring for the long-term holding, ownership, and management of assets, addressing legal incapacity, division of marital property, wills, and trusts. She has practiced in this field since 2012, combining legal work, academic study, and active participation in professional organizations, publications, lectures, and continuing legal education.
Ms. Liberman was admitted to the Israel Bar in 2013 and licensed as a notary in 2024. She holds an LL.B. from Bar Ilan University (2012) and an LL.M. in Commercial Law from Tel Aviv University (2015). She is a full member of STEP, having earned a Diploma in International Trust Management following two years of study. Since 2018, she has been authorized by the Administrator General and the Israel Bar Association to draft and execute legal instruments for future incapacity planning, including the Enduring Power of Attorney, Expression of Wishes Document, and Preliminary Instructions for the Appointment of a Guardian. Her writing includes chapters in Asia-Pacific Trusts Law, Volume 2 (Bloomsbury, 2022), Trusts in Prime Jurisdictions (5th ed., Globe Law and Business, 2019), and Trust in Israel: Theory and Practice (2017, in Hebrew). Her work has also appeared in Trusts & Trustees, The International Family Office Journal, and STEP Journal. She lectures regularly at seminars and conferences, including events hosted by the Israel Bar Association and STEP.
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