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Rehovot Family Case: Israel Recognizes Consular Divorces for the First Time, Thanks to Attorney Ram Shachter
"For the first time, the State of Israel has officially recognized a consular divorce proceeding that took place at the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv. In a ruling handed down two weeks ago by the Family Court, the Interior Ministry recognized the divorce of Michael Katakov, a 33-year-old immigrant from the CIS who is not entitled to Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return, and his first wife. The couple was married four years ago in the embassy's consular department.
In the wake of the Interior Ministry's unprecedented recognition of the dissolution of the marriage by the Russian consul, Katakov, who now lives in Rehovot with his second wife, whom he married in a civil ceremony abroad, can now exercise his citizenship right and be registered in the population roll as the legal husband of his second wife.
According to attorney Ram Shechter, who represented Katakov before Family Court judge David Shoham, "the Interior Ministry's recognition of the consular divorce will make life easier for tens of thousands of immigrants from the CIS who are not eligible for the Law of Return and immigrated to Israel. Until today, the only divorce proceeding available to them was complicated and expensive, and possible only after two legal instances - the Supreme Court and the Family Court."
Shechter added that with the Interior Ministry's recognition and Russia's authorization of the divorce, couples from the CIS could now get divorced at the consulates of their countries of origin in Israel at the low cost of a few hundred shekels and without having to wait for a long time for the process to be approved by the courts.
The State of Israel continues to invest significant resources in encouraging immigration from the former Soviet Union, and this policy hasn't changed despite the fact that today most of the immigrants from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are not Jewish in accordance with the halakha. In light of this, the rate of mixed marriages is very high, with one of the spouses eligible for immigration to Israel under the Law of Return and the other entitled to residency and citizenship only by virtue of his/her marriage.
Interior Ministry figures show that since the beginning of 2000 and up until the end of last month, some 124,400 individuals have immigrated to Israel from the CIS. Of this number, some 55 percent (around 69,000) are not of Jewish origin.
Recent years have seen a consistent rise in the percentage of immigrants from the CIS who are not considered Jewish according to the halakha. This year, for example, some 62 percent of the immigrants are not Jewish, while 59 percent of last year's immigrants weren't Jewish. For the sake of comparison, some 761,000 individuals immigrated from the CIS to Israel in the previous decade, with only around one-third of them considered non-Jewish.
Despite the immigration and absorption policy, the state makes life difficult for immigrants whose marriages have fallen apart as a result of the trauma of moving to a new country. In Israel, the only divorce proceedings available to immigrants from the CIS are religious divorces through the rabbinate that can be conducted only if both spouses are Jews in keeping with the halakha.
"Until now, when the mixed immigrant couples wanted to end their marriages and for the Interior Ministry to afford the divorce legal status, they had two options," explains attorney Shechter. "One, to get divorced in their country of origin - an expensive step that involves purchasing a return air ticket and financing the stay abroad. The second, and less expensive option, was to enter into a marriage dissolution process in the courts and using a lawyer."
Shechter said the court process could take up to two years and cost some $4,000-5,000. According to estimates based on the number of requests to dissolves marriages in the past five years, immigrants from the CIS have paid lawyers in Israel a total of some NIS 250 million to exercise their right to get divorced and start a new family with a different spouse.
Katakov did not plan on setting a precedent for the immigrants from the former Soviet Union. He says he chose the consular route "because it seemed a logical step and a process that would not take up my time and force me to suspend my doctoral studies at the Weizmann Institute."
Commenting on the Family Court's ruling, the spokeswoman for the Population Administration said the ruling would be reviewed by the administration's professionals "and we will work out how to act on this issue in the future.""
Source: Relly Sa'ar. Israel recognizes consular divorces for the first time. Haaretz.com (5 May 2005) [FullText]
In the wake of the Interior Ministry's unprecedented recognition of the dissolution of the marriage by the Russian consul, Katakov, who now lives in Rehovot with his second wife, whom he married in a civil ceremony abroad, can now exercise his citizenship right and be registered in the population roll as the legal husband of his second wife.
According to attorney Ram Shechter, who represented Katakov before Family Court judge David Shoham, "the Interior Ministry's recognition of the consular divorce will make life easier for tens of thousands of immigrants from the CIS who are not eligible for the Law of Return and immigrated to Israel. Until today, the only divorce proceeding available to them was complicated and expensive, and possible only after two legal instances - the Supreme Court and the Family Court."
Shechter added that with the Interior Ministry's recognition and Russia's authorization of the divorce, couples from the CIS could now get divorced at the consulates of their countries of origin in Israel at the low cost of a few hundred shekels and without having to wait for a long time for the process to be approved by the courts.
The State of Israel continues to invest significant resources in encouraging immigration from the former Soviet Union, and this policy hasn't changed despite the fact that today most of the immigrants from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are not Jewish in accordance with the halakha. In light of this, the rate of mixed marriages is very high, with one of the spouses eligible for immigration to Israel under the Law of Return and the other entitled to residency and citizenship only by virtue of his/her marriage.
Interior Ministry figures show that since the beginning of 2000 and up until the end of last month, some 124,400 individuals have immigrated to Israel from the CIS. Of this number, some 55 percent (around 69,000) are not of Jewish origin.
Recent years have seen a consistent rise in the percentage of immigrants from the CIS who are not considered Jewish according to the halakha. This year, for example, some 62 percent of the immigrants are not Jewish, while 59 percent of last year's immigrants weren't Jewish. For the sake of comparison, some 761,000 individuals immigrated from the CIS to Israel in the previous decade, with only around one-third of them considered non-Jewish.
Despite the immigration and absorption policy, the state makes life difficult for immigrants whose marriages have fallen apart as a result of the trauma of moving to a new country. In Israel, the only divorce proceedings available to immigrants from the CIS are religious divorces through the rabbinate that can be conducted only if both spouses are Jews in keeping with the halakha.
"Until now, when the mixed immigrant couples wanted to end their marriages and for the Interior Ministry to afford the divorce legal status, they had two options," explains attorney Shechter. "One, to get divorced in their country of origin - an expensive step that involves purchasing a return air ticket and financing the stay abroad. The second, and less expensive option, was to enter into a marriage dissolution process in the courts and using a lawyer."
Shechter said the court process could take up to two years and cost some $4,000-5,000. According to estimates based on the number of requests to dissolves marriages in the past five years, immigrants from the CIS have paid lawyers in Israel a total of some NIS 250 million to exercise their right to get divorced and start a new family with a different spouse.
Katakov did not plan on setting a precedent for the immigrants from the former Soviet Union. He says he chose the consular route "because it seemed a logical step and a process that would not take up my time and force me to suspend my doctoral studies at the Weizmann Institute."
Commenting on the Family Court's ruling, the spokeswoman for the Population Administration said the ruling would be reviewed by the administration's professionals "and we will work out how to act on this issue in the future.""
Source: Relly Sa'ar. Israel recognizes consular divorces for the first time. Haaretz.com (5 May 2005) [FullText]
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