Israel gives you three legal tools to keep decisions inside your family if illness takes your capacity, and every one of them must be signed while you are still competent. The Continuing Power of Attorney (yipui koach mitmashech), in force since 2017 under the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law, appoints who runs your money, medical care, and daily life; it costs ₪1,000 to ₪2,500, can only be executed with a Ministry of Justice accredited lawyer, and sleeps in a state registry until doctors certify you can no longer decide. A living will (advance medical directives) under the Dying Patient Law 5766-2005 records, from age 17, which treatments you accept or refuse; registering it with the Ministry of Health is free. A medical proxy is the person hospitals must listen to when you cannot answer. Skip all three and the fallback is court guardianship at ₪10,000 to ₪30,000 and up. Foreign powers of attorney count for nothing here.
The scenario this page exists to prevent is specific. One spouse has a stroke, and within a week the bank blocks any action on that spouse’s accounts, the hospital asks who is authorized to consent to surgery, and the family realizes nobody ever wrote down what Mom actually wanted. Israeli banks, hospitals, and registries act only on Israeli instruments, so the durable power of attorney a New York lawyer drafted, or the LPA registered in England, changes nothing at Ichilov or Bank Leumi. Without the right local paperwork, the family’s only route is a Family Court guardianship application: slow, public, expensive, and it hands a judge decisions you could have kept. This page walks through the three documents that close that gap. It is one branch of our guide to wills, probate, and estate planning in Israel, inside the complete playbook for retiring in Israel.
The Continuing Power of Attorney: ₪2,500 now or a courtroom later
The Continuing Power of Attorney is the single highest-leverage document in Israeli elder law. Created by a 2017 amendment to the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law 5722-1962 and run by the Guardian General’s office at the Ministry of Justice, it lets any competent adult of 18 or older pre-appoint trusted people to act if capacity is later lost. It covers three domains, and you can name a different agent for each: personal affairs (where you live, daily care, cultural preferences), medical decisions, and money and property (bank accounts, real estate, investments, taxes, bills). A common split is a spouse for medical decisions and a financially sharp child for the accounts.
The mechanics are strict and entirely digital. Only a lawyer holding specific Ministry of Justice accreditation can execute it; a general notary cannot. The lawyer drafts it on the Ministry template, files it into the Guardian General’s secure online registry, and it receives a unique registration number that hospitals and government offices can verify. Then it sleeps. Activation happens only when medical documentation confirms you have lost decision-making capacity, and while you remain competent you can revoke or amend it at any time through the same system. The legal fee runs ₪1,000 to ₪2,500.
| Continuing Power of Attorney | Court guardianship (the default) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who picks the decision-maker | You, in advance, by name and by domain | A Family Court judge, after your capacity is gone |
| Cost | ₪1,000 to ₪2,500 in legal fees, once | ₪10,000 to ₪30,000 and up in court costs, plus ongoing reporting to the Guardian General |
| Speed in a crisis | Activates on medical documentation of lost capacity | Months of court proceedings while accounts stay unreachable |
| Oversight | Your named agents, bound by your written instructions | Guardian General supervision and court approvals |
| Undoing it | Revoke or amend anytime while competent | Only by going back to court |
Our estimate: a Continuing Power of Attorney returns 4 to 30 times its cost (basis: a ₪1,000 to ₪2,500 one-time fee against ₪10,000 to ₪30,000 and up in guardianship court costs, before counting the annual reporting burden a guardianship adds). Our estimate: every month a family waits for a guardianship order while a parent needs full-time care costs ₪13,000 to ₪22,000 out of pocket (basis: standard self-pay rates at a private nursing home, which someone must fund while the parent’s own money is legally unreachable). The full care-cost picture, including the Bituach Leumi nursing benefit that offsets it, is in our guide to long-term care costs and benefits in Israel.
Medical proxy: who the hospital listens to when you cannot answer
A medical proxy is the person with legal standing to consent to or refuse treatment on your behalf. The cleanest way to name one is inside the medical domain of your Continuing Power of Attorney: your proxy then steps into the rights the Patient Rights Law 5756-1996 gives every patient, receiving full information on diagnosis, prognosis, and options, consenting to or refusing treatment, and accessing your records, with your dignity and privacy protected throughout. The proxy is not free to improvise; decisions must follow your known wishes or your best interests.
If you never named anyone, the law falls back on a family ladder: spouse, then children, then parents, then siblings have recognized standing to receive information and take part in decisions. But that standing is soft. The medical team and the hospital’s Ethics Committee can override family members, which is exactly the fight a signed proxy appointment prevents. There is also a second, narrower route: the Dying Patient Law lets you appoint a dedicated medical power of attorney purely for end-of-life decisions, and that appointee must be over 18 and cannot be a healthcare provider involved in your treatment. Observant families who want decisions made according to Jewish law can appoint a proxy on halachic forms offered by organizations such as the Rabbinical Assembly and the RCA.
The living will: what the Dying Patient Law lets you decide in advance
Israel’s living will is the set of advance medical directives (hanchayot mukdamot) created by the Dying Patient Law 5766-2005, passed in December 2005 and in force since June 2006. Anyone aged 17 or older, healthy or ill, can complete one. The directives spell out which treatments you want given or withheld if you become a dying patient, which the law defines as a prognosis of six months or less to live, from any cause, while unable to communicate. You can address resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, artificial nutrition, dialysis, chemotherapy, antibiotics, and your palliative care preferences.
The law draws one line every family should understand before the crisis: withholding a new treatment from a dying patient is permitted, but withdrawing a continuous treatment already running, such as stopping a ventilator, is legally heavier and goes through Ethics Committee review. The statute was deliberately built on the distinction between causing death and allowing natural death. Registration is free: the original signed form is mailed to the Center for Advance Healthcare Directives, Ministry of Health, 39 Yirmiyahu Street, Jerusalem, and once registered it is accessible to the treating hospital team when you are classified as a dying patient. The same law makes palliative care and home hospice a right at no cost. Ematai, an Israeli NGO, publishes the directive forms with English guidance. The chapter after this one, who is entitled to what at the very end and who pays, is covered in our guide to how burial works and what it costs in Israel: Bituach Leumi already funds a basic burial for every person who dies in Israel.
Which paper does what: the three documents side by side
| Continuing Power of Attorney | Living will (advance directives) | Medical power of attorney (Dying Patient Law) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum age to sign | 18 | 17 | 18 for your appointee, who cannot be a clinician treating you |
| What it covers | Money, property, daily life, and medical care, per your instructions | Named treatments to give or withhold once you are a dying patient | End-of-life medical decisions only |
| Executed with | A Ministry of Justice accredited lawyer only | Ministry of Health forms (English versions via Ematai) | Appointment form under the Dying Patient Law |
| Filed at | Guardian General digital registry, unique registration number | National Center for Advance Medical Directives, Ministry of Health | Ministry of Health |
| Wakes up when | Doctors document lost decision-making capacity | Prognosis of six months or less and you cannot communicate | Same trigger, with your appointee deciding |
| Cost | ₪1,000 to ₪2,500 | Free to register | No state fee |
Our estimate: a couple completes the entire set, two Continuing Powers of Attorney with medical proxies named inside them plus two registered living wills, for ₪2,000 to ₪5,000, about $670 to $1,670 (basis: ₪1,000 to ₪2,500 per EPA in legal fees, directive and proxy filings free, converted at ₪3.00 to the dollar).
Your American or British power of attorney stops at Ben Gurion
The Continuing Power of Attorney is an Israeli instrument, and the traffic runs both ways: just as a US durable power of attorney or a UK lasting power of attorney moves nothing in an Israeli bank, your Israeli EPA will not run your Fidelity account or your flat in Manchester. Retirees with assets in two countries need a set of documents per legal system, exactly like the separate-will rule for cross-border estates. Keep the US or UK documents current for the assets that stayed behind, and sign the Israeli set for everything here.
The Hebrew you will hear, one line each
- Yipui koach mitmashech: the Continuing Power of Attorney, the 2017 instrument that pre-appoints who manages your affairs if you lose capacity.
- Hanchayot mukdamot: advance medical directives, Israel’s living will under the Dying Patient Law.
- Apotropos Klali: the Guardian General, the Ministry of Justice office that runs the EPA registry and supervises court-appointed guardians.
- Hok HaHoleh HaGoses: the Dying Patient Law 5766-2005, the statute governing end-of-life care and the six-month “dying patient” trigger.
Confirm these five things before you sign anything
- The lawyer holds the specific Ministry of Justice accreditation for Continuing Powers of Attorney; a general notary or an unaccredited attorney cannot execute one.
- You received the registry confirmation and unique registration number after filing, and the activation trigger is written the way you want it.
- Every agent and proxy said yes, holds a copy, and has heard your wishes in detail, because their decisions must track what you are known to have wanted.
- The original directives form went by mail to the National Center at 39 Yirmiyahu Street, Jerusalem, not into a drawer.
- The other document that bypasses your will is also current: the beneficiary form on every pension fund and insurance policy, covered in our guide to naming beneficiaries, trusts, and protecting an inheritance in Israel.
What families ask before signing
Does my American durable power of attorney work in Israel?
No. Israeli banks, hospitals, and registries act only on the Israeli Continuing Power of Attorney filed in the Guardian General’s registry. Keep the US document for US assets and sign an Israeli EPA for everything here.
Can my spouse decide for me without any documents?
Only partly. Under the Patient Rights Law a spouse has first standing on the family ladder for medical information and participation, but the medical team and Ethics Committee can override, and no family ladder exists for money: without an activated EPA, only a court-appointed guardian can touch your accounts.
Can I change or cancel a Continuing Power of Attorney?
Yes, at any time while you remain competent, by filing the revocation or amendment through the same Ministry of Justice registry. Once capacity is lost, the version on file is the one that governs.
My parent already has dementia and signed nothing. Now what?
It is legally too late for an EPA, which requires full capacity at signing. The family applies to the Family Court for guardianship, at ₪10,000 to ₪30,000 and up in court costs, with the Guardian General supervising from then on.
Can doctors stop a ventilator if my living will says so?
Not automatically. The Dying Patient Law permits withholding new treatment, but withdrawing a continuous treatment already running goes through Ethics Committee review. Your directives still matter: they are the strongest evidence of your wishes in that review.
Who can serve as my medical proxy?
Inside the EPA, anyone you trust. Under the Dying Patient Law’s dedicated appointment, the proxy must be over 18 and cannot be a healthcare provider involved in your treatment.
Read the primary sources
Figures and legal rules on this page reflect the 2026 position. Last verified: July 2026.
- Ministry of Justice: the Guardian General and the Continuing Power of Attorney registry
- Ministry of Health: advance medical directives and the Dying Patient Law
- Ematai: advance directive forms and English guidance
- Kol Zchut (All Rights): plain-language rights guides in English
Put the apartment inside the plan before you buy it
For most retirees here, the apartment is the largest asset the financial domain of an EPA will ever govern: paying the arnona and vaad bayit, renting it out, or selling it to fund care if that day comes. The time to decide whose name goes on the title and who holds the power to manage it is before the purchase, not after a diagnosis. If a home in Israel is part of your retirement plan, tell us your budget and preferred cities and we will shortlist properties and flag the ownership and power-of-attorney questions to settle with your lawyer before you sign.
