The opening of a war of iron swords and the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of reserve soldiers was supposed to lead, seemingly, to a sharp dive in the number of new cases opened in the rabbinate.
The absence of the reservists, alongside the partial appeals of the women who remained in the home front, substantiated this assumption, however the rabbinical data, which came exclusively to the SHEEE system, tell a different and surprising story.
Thus, contrary to expectations, it is possible to find a minor decrease of only 7% in the number of divorce cases opened in the rabbinate since the outbreak of the war until the end of December 2023, compared to the corresponding period last year.
A much sharper drop was expected.
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"The explanation for this consists of a number of reasons, including the fact that the regional rabbinical courts have remained open since the beginning of the war, with the exception of a few cities, and this is out of our duty to continue acting for the public and allow it to receive the full range of services that are required," the management of the Israel Rabbinic Courts notes.
And what will happen at the end of the war?
Will there be a jump in the number of cases that will be opened, even at a higher rate than the aforementioned decrease?
"During the Corona virus, there was a 4% decrease in the number of cases opened, but with the end of the closure period, their number jumped at the same rate," explains a senior official in the management of the Rabbinical Courts.
The question that is currently preoccupying the experts in the field of family law is whether there will be a jump at an even higher rate than the decrease recorded in the number of couples applying for divorce proceedings at the end of the war.
Attorney Ronan Daliho, an expert in language and inheritance law who serves as the chairman of the National Forum for Family Law of the Bar Association, elaborates: "Quite a few families split up physically, when the women and children moved to a certain place while the husband remained in their permanent place of residence or was drafted. One way or another, it is more than likely that despite the difficulty in managing the home independently, quite a few of the families were in conflict or a complex conflict precisely as a result of the situation and the imposed war, which establishes the conclusion that it is better to live separately. The corona virus created many challenges, but it did not constitute a period of moral and mental breakdown Deep in the same order of magnitude, which of course intensifies the difficulty that the couple experiences."
Is it better to live apart?
Adv. Ronen Daliho/relation
Along with all this, many of the lawyers believe that with the end of the war, there will also be a significant increase in the number of appeals to the court and the rabbinic courts, mainly by men, who will ask to reduce the amount of alimony, in light of a fundamental change that has occurred in economic circumstances, which justifies his intervention. From a survey conducted by The business information company Coface Bdi shows that among businesses, 64% of the respondents stated that there is a decrease in the scope of business activity due to the war. In fact, the economic data in the field of insolvency even before the war, reflected the problematic state of the economy: in the months of June to August 2023, there was a sharp increase of about 84% in the number of requests from companies that turned to the courts requesting to appoint an official to them immediately after they fell into debt. The examination of the data regarding the requests of individuals who filed the insolvency procedures in the months of July-August 2023 compared to the corresponding period in 2022 indicated a 12.9% increase in the number The requests to initiate proceedings.
The question is what are the chances that the legal courts will accept the argument of the men who petitioned them, and rule 'wholesale' that there is room to reduce the amount of alimony? In this context, Attorney Daliho points out: "You can apply to the courts for a reduction of alimony only in cases where A substantial change of circumstances is proven.
A substantial change means a drastic and long-term decrease in the scope of income by tens of percent or a significant loss of the source of income.
It is likely that a man who points to a temporary decrease of 20% in his income alone, will not receive relief from the court.
According to him, even layoffs and unemployment of several months are not yet a justified reason for reducing alimony, unless it is a sharp change in the health condition and long-term earning capacity."
Another economic consequence that is expected to occupy the divorced couples in Israel is the need to allocate a significant amount of money in favor of providing psychological assistance for the children. The collective trauma we are experiencing, of course, has not escaped the children and youth, which has led to a tens of percent increase in referrals to mental health therapists. The court states that parents must meet the children's material needs as well as their mental needs. Children have a right to their mental health and their ability To exercise this right by funding psychological counseling. "The legal basis for this is in Section 15 of the Legal Training and Guardianship Law, which states that there is no justification for distinguishing between needs for psychological treatment and, for example, other needs such as education or health," adds Attorney Daliho.
According to him, not infrequently and as a matter of routine, arguments arise between divorced spouses regarding the manner and scope of the psychological treatment that is required to be given to the child.
"The courts will first and foremost tend to see the interests of the minors and their needs even if both parents do not see eye to eye."
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