The family home after a death in a second marriage – who lives there, who owns it, and what can be arranged in advance

Second Marriages · November 4, 2026 · 9 min read

The short answer

When a spouse dies in a second marriage, three questions about the home come up almost every time: who goes on living there, who owns it, and what passes to the children. Where there is no will, the answers come from two laws that operate side by side: the Succession Law, 5725-1965, which determines who inherits the deceased's share of the home and what residence rights the people living there have, and the Spouses (Property Relations) Law, 5733-1973, which governs the balancing of resources (izun mash'abim) between the surviving spouse and the deceased's heirs.

Where the deceased's share of the home passes to other heirs as well, the Succession Law does not give the surviving spouse a free, lifelong right to live there. It provides a transition period of three or six months (section 108 of the Succession Law) and, where the estate is divided by court order, the option to stay on as a tenant of the heirs, paying rent (section 115). A different arrangement – for example a residence right for the spouse, with the home passing to the children afterwards – is made in advance, in a prenuptial agreement, in wills, or in both.

1. Three common situations

The answer to “what happens to the home” starts with whose name it is registered in and when it was bought:

• A home owned by one spouse only, often one they brought into the relationship. If that spouse dies first, the whole home is part of their estate. If the other spouse dies first, the home is not part of that spouse's estate, but that spouse's heirs take their place for the purposes of the balancing of resources (section 5(b) of the Property Relations Law).
• A home owned jointly by both spouses. When one dies, their share is part of the estate and the surviving spouse's share remains theirs. Once the inheritance is registered, the spouse and the heirs may be co-owners of the same home.
• Children from an earlier relationship. Under section 10 of the Succession Law, the heirs by law are the spouse and the deceased's relatives – the deceased's children and their descendants, parents and their descendants, and grandparents and their descendants. The surviving spouse's children from an earlier relationship are not among the deceased's heirs by law, and each spouse decides in their own will what passes to their children and to their partner's children.

More on prenuptial agreements, wills and the home in a second family: Second marriages and blended families.

2. Without a will: who inherits the home

Under section 11(a) of the Succession Law, the spouse takes the household movables, including a passenger car, and the following share of the rest of the estate:

The special provision on the home appears only in section 11(a)(2): the spouse takes the deceased's whole share of the home where they had been married “three years or more” and lived together in it at the time of death. Where the deceased left children – including children from an earlier relationship – that provision does not apply, and the deceased's share of the home is divided with the rest of the estate. Under section 12, the deceased's children take priority over the deceased's parents.

For the procedure itself – a succession order or a probate order – see Which order is needed after a death.

3. Who goes on living in the home

A transition period. Under section 108(a) of the Succession Law, anyone who lived with the deceased in their home at the time of death, whether the deceased owned or rented it, may continue to live there for three months – or six months if they are an heir – and use the shared household movables. A person who was supported by the deceased may receive support from the estate for one month (section 108(b)).

Division by agreement. Under section 110(a), the estate is divided among the heirs by agreement or by court order. Where the heirs divide it by agreement, sections 112 to 117 do not apply (section 110(d)), and the spouse and the children decide between them who takes the home and on what terms.

Division by court order. Failing agreement, the court divides the estate (section 111(a)). Where the deceased's will directs how the assets are to be divided, the court follows it unless satisfied that there were special reasons to depart from it (section 111(c)). Otherwise sections 112 to 117 apply:

• An asset that cannot be divided goes to the heir who offers the most for it, provided the price is not below market value; if no heir agrees to buy it, it is sold and the proceeds are divided (section 113).
• Under section 115(a), where the deceased owned and lived in a home at the time of death, the spouse, children and parents who lived there with the deceased may continue to live there as tenants of the heirs who received the home. The rent, term and conditions are set by agreement between them, or by the court if they do not agree.
• Under section 115(b), the court may, at the heirs' request, limit this to those who have no other home, or to part of the home, provided that part includes the kitchen and utility rooms.

4. The balancing of resources, and why the registered owner matters

Under section 3(a) of the Property Relations Law, where there is no prenuptial agreement, or to the extent the agreement does not provide otherwise, the balancing-of-resources regime applies. Under section 5(a), when the marriage ends on the death of a spouse, each spouse is entitled to half the value of all the couple's assets, excluding, among other things, assets they owned before the marriage or received as a gift or inheritance during it, and assets they agreed in writing not to balance. Under section 5(b), the deceased's heirs take the deceased's place with respect to the right to balancing.

Balancing is a calculation of value. Under section 6(b), the spouse whose assets are worth more gives the other half the difference, “in kind, in money or in money's worth”. The registered ownership of the home, the date it was bought and the money put into it therefore affect two separate things: what forms part of the estate, and what enters the balancing calculation. Under section 11(c) of the Succession Law, what the spouse receives under the Property Relations Law or a prenuptial agreement is not deducted from their share of the estate.

Co-ownership. Under section 27 of the Land Law, 5729-1969, each co-owner's ownership extends to every part of the property, and under section 28 the co-owners' shares are presumed equal. Under section 37(a), every co-owner is entitled at any time to demand the dissolution of the co-ownership. Under section 29, co-owners may make a co-ownership agreement (heskem shituf) on the management and use of the property and on their rights and duties; such an agreement can be registered, and once registered it also binds anyone who later becomes a co-owner. A clause restricting the right to demand dissolution for more than three years is subject to the court's power under section 37(b).

5. What can be arranged in advance

In a prenuptial agreement. A prenuptial agreement (also called a premarital or financial agreement), known in Israel as a heskem mamon, can address the home. In Family Matters Leave to Appeal (Bam) 1811/20 (13 April 2021), the Supreme Court denied leave to appeal, leaving in force a clause in an approved prenuptial agreement under which rent from a property owned by the couple would be paid to the widow for the rest of her life. The clause was held not to be an agreement concerning inheritance within section 8 of the Succession Law, and paragraph 21 notes that a residence right for a spouse in a prenuptial agreement is a common and feasible arrangement. By contrast, under section 8(a) of the Succession Law, an agreement about a person's inheritance, and a renunciation of that inheritance, made during their lifetime are void – so an inheritance cannot be renounced in a prenuptial agreement. On this distinction, see A prenuptial agreement in a second marriage.

In a will. The will determines who receives the deceased's share of the home and how the assets are divided among the heirs (section 111(c)). Some structures the law recognises:

• Heir after heir (yoresh achar yoresh). Under section 42(a) of the Succession Law, a testator may leave an asset to two people so that the second takes after the first – for example to the spouse and then to the children. Under section 42(b), the first may deal with what they received as their own, and the second takes only what the first left; but the first cannot reduce the second's entitlement by will.
• A conditional or deferred heir. Under section 43, a testator may provide that an heir takes when a condition is met or a date arrives; until then the estate is managed by an estate administrator.
• Mutual wills (tzava'ot hadadiyot). Under section 8A, spouses may make wills in reliance on each other's will, and revocation is subject to the rules in section 8A(b). See Mutual wills.

Under section 27(a), an undertaking to make, change or revoke a will, or not to do so, “is of no effect”. The arrangement is therefore set in the wills themselves, not as an undertaking in an agreement. For drafting, signing and depositing a will, see Wills.

In the Land Registry (Tabu). Under section 126(a) of the Land Law, where an owner has undertaken in writing to carry out, or to refrain from, a transaction in land, the registrar records a warning note (he'arat azhara) at the request of the person who gave the undertaking or the person entitled under it. Whether a particular arrangement suits such a note, or registration of a co-ownership agreement under section 29, depends on its wording and the circumstances.

6. Questions that come up in drafting

A residence right granted in a document raises practical questions. These are not rules of law but points couples decide on when drafting:

• Who pays running costs, repairs and maintenance, and who pays the mortgage, if there is one.
• Whether the right is personal, or whether the spouse may let the home or move to another home in its place.
• What happens if the spouse moves elsewhere, enters a new relationship or moves into a care facility.
• What happens if the spouse who was given the right dies first, and how both spouses' wills are coordinated.
• Whether the prenuptial agreement and the wills are consistent, and which of them may apply to the same home.
• Reviewing the beneficiaries registered in pension funds and life insurance, which are not part of the estate.

Transferring rights in the home, during life or after death, is reviewed in coordination with your accountant on tax and reporting.

Frequently asked questions

Can the surviving spouse go on living in the home?

Under section 108(a) of the Succession Law, 5725-1965, anyone who lived with the deceased in their home may continue to live there for three months, or six months if they are an heir. Where the estate is divided by court order, under section 115(a) the spouse, children and parents who lived in a home the deceased owned may stay on as tenants of the heirs, at a rent set by agreement or by the court. A different arrangement is set in advance in a prenuptial agreement or in wills.

The home is registered only in the deceased spouse's name. Does all of it pass to the other spouse?

Where there is no will and the deceased left children or parents, the spouse takes half of the rest of the estate, and the deceased's share of the home is part of the estate that is divided (section 11(a)(1) of the Succession Law, 5725-1965). The provision under which the spouse takes the deceased's whole share of the home applies only where the deceased left siblings or their descendants or grandparents, after a marriage of at least three years and with the couple living in the home (section 11(a)(2)). Separately, the balancing of resources under section 5 of the Spouses (Property Relations) Law, 5733-1973, applies.

Can an inheritance in the home be renounced in a prenuptial agreement?

Under section 8(a) of the Succession Law, 5725-1965, an agreement about a person's inheritance, and a renunciation of it, made during their lifetime are void. A property arrangement in an approved prenuptial agreement is not necessarily an agreement about inheritance: in Bam 1811/20 a clause giving a widow rent for life remained in force, and paragraph 21 notes that a residence right for a spouse in a prenuptial agreement is a common and feasible arrangement. More on this: A prenuptial agreement in a second marriage.

If a will leaves the home to the spouse and then to the children, can the spouse sell it?

Under section 42(b) of the Succession Law, 5725-1965, in an heir-after-heir bequest the first heir may deal with what they received as their own, and the second takes only what the first left; but the first cannot reduce the second's entitlement by will. Testators who want a different arrangement set it out in the wording of the will, and sometimes also in the prenuptial agreement.

The home is co-owned by the spouse and the deceased's children. Can any of them demand a sale?

Under section 37(a) of the Land Law, 5729-1969, every co-owner is entitled at any time to demand the dissolution of the co-ownership. Under section 29, co-owners may make a co-ownership agreement on the use of the property and their rights and duties, and a registered agreement also binds anyone who later becomes a co-owner. A clause restricting dissolution for more than three years is subject to the court's power under section 37(b).

What happens when the heirs agree on the division?

Under section 110(d) of the Succession Law, 5725-1965, where the estate is divided by agreement among the heirs, sections 112 to 117 – including the provisions on indivisible assets and on the family home – do not apply. The heirs decide between them who takes the home and on what terms.

The above is general information on Israeli law only, current as of the date of publication, and does not constitute legal advice or a substitute for advice on your specific circumstances. Consult a lawyer before acting.

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