ISRAEL Law and Practice Contributed by: Yaron Mehulal, Nataly Davidai and Shalom Hershkovitz, FISCHER (FBC & Co.)
Surrogate Pregnancy Arrangements Israel permits surrogate pregnancy arrangements for infertile heterosexual couples and single women, and as of January 2022 also for same-sex couples, pro - vided, inter alia, that: • all parties are Israeli residents; • the surrogate is an unmarried woman, meaning single, widowed or divorced (although certain exemptions apply), who has already had at least one child of her own, has undergone no more than four childbirths, and is above the age of 22 but younger than 39; and • the surrogate is not related to either of the desig - nated parents. It is also required that the designated parents and the surrogate be of the same religion, to ensure that the child’s religious status would be clear (although certain exemptions apply in the case of non-Jewish couples). As a condition for the surrogate pregnancy procedure to take place, the designated parents and the surrogate must sign a surrogate pregnancy agree - ment, which ought to be pre-approved by an Israeli government committee. It should be noted that surrogacy is not legal in Israel for convenience or career considerations, but only due to infertility or health reasons. Posthumously Conceived Children Although there is no law specifically permitting the use of a deceased’s sperm to posthumously conceive a child, Israeli courts tend to permit implanting sperm, either collected during the deceased’s lifetime or after his death, especially in circumstances where the deceased left behind a spouse or was killed in action. 9.2 Same-Sex Marriage Same-sex marriage is not legal in Israel, although the Israeli Ministry of the Interior registers same-sex marriages performed abroad in the Israeli population register. As the registration in the Israeli population register is not legally valid and does not automatically grant same-sex couples all the rights of married couples, many same-sex couples choose not to marry abroad,
but rather select to enter into common law relation - ships (through contractual marriage), providing them with equal access to many of the rights of married couples (tax credits, the right to litigate in front of the Family Courts, etc).
10. Charitable Planning 10.1 Charitable Giving
As is customary worldwide, the Israeli Income Tax Ordinance provides for a tax deduction for charita - ble donations to an Israeli not-for-profit organisation recognised under Section 46 of the Israeli Income Tax Ordinance (up to 35% of the donation if the donor is an individual, otherwise 23%), provided the donation, which must be higher than ILS207, does not exceed ILS10.35 million or 30% of the donor’s chargeable income for the same year, whichever is lower. In addition, the income of a not-for-profit organisa - tion that has at least seven members (the majority of whom are not related), acting in the areas of religion, culture, education, science, health, welfare, sports or encouragement of populating rural areas, is exempted from income tax and VAT, provided that its income does not constitute business income. 10.2 Common Charitable Structures There are four legally recognised structures for chari - table planning in Israel: • an amutah (a traditional not-for-profit organisation); • a charitable company (a not-for-profit organisation registered as an Israeli corporation); • a public hekdesh (similar to a charitable trust); and • a charitable fund (a not-for-profit Israeli corporation aimed at providing grants). All are regulated by the Israeli Registrar of Associa - tions – Non-Profit Organisations, and are subject to the same taxation regulations and to an extensive fil - ing and audit regime. In addition, all four structures cannot distribute any profits, directly or indirectly, to their members, shareholders or trustees, including their founders or settlors.
285 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook