ISRAEL Law and Practice Contributed by: Joseph (Yossi) Ashkenazi, Haim Machluf and Roy Schondorf, Herzog Fox & Neeman
Herzog Fox & Neeman Herzog Tower 6 Yitzhak Sadeh St Tel Aviv 6777506 Israel Tel: +972 3 692 2020 Fax: +972 3 696 6464 Email: ashkenazij@herzoglaw.co.il Web: www.herzoglaw.co.il
1. Identifying Assets in the Jurisdiction 1.1 Options to Identify Another Party’s Asset Position There are several options available to identify the judgment debtor’s asset position prior to commenc - ing court proceedings or enforcement proceedings. These include the following. • The bankruptcy and insolvency registry – this regis - try can be used to examine whether an individual or a company is subject to any form of insolvency process or subject to any related orders. • The Israeli companies’ registry – various informa - tion on companies, such as attachments imposed on a company’s assets, its shareholders and their holdings, the names and addresses of its directors, etc, is publicly available via the companies’ regis - try. • The lien registry – information regarding liens on non-real estate property or rights to real estate not registered in the land registry of individuals and companies may be publicly available via the lien registry. • The non-paying debtors’ registry of the Israeli Enforcement and Collection Authority – information regarding declarations of individuals as non-paying debtors, indicating that the individual is or was a party to execution proceedings and did not meet the imposed payments as required. • The land registry – if the opposing party is pre - sumed to own a certain land plot or any other real estate, a party can confirm this information by accessing the public land registry and checking whether that plot is indeed owned by the opposite
party. The land registry also includes information regarding mortgages and other interests regarding real estate assets. Another option includes commencing court proceed - ings which would allow a party to receive information not otherwise available. Attachment Order During the course of legal proceedings (and even prior to the filing of a claim) a party may seek an interim attachment order aimed at a third party that is believed to hold assets or monies owned by an opposing party, or which the opposing party may have a right to receive in the future. The applicant is not required to prove that the third party indeed holds such assets; however, it is required to specify the nature of the assets that the applicant believes are held by the third party (for example, an attachment application aimed at a law firm as a third party can seek an attachment for all monies that the firm holds as a trustee for the defendant), unless the order is aimed at financial institutions (where a general attach - ment application will suffice). The third party would then be required to reply as to whether they hold any assets owned by (or owed to) the party responding to the motion. If they so confirm, an attachment may be imposed on the assets speci - fied in the motion, until after a judgment is rendered. Thus, the applicant will not only confirm information concerning the opposing party’s assets, but may also secure, or increase the chances for, the enforcement of any judgment obtained in the future.
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