Maintenance (Alimony)

A woman or child who are residents of Israel, who have a court judgement for maintenance payments and are not receiving those payments from the person obligated, are entitled to maintenance payments from the National Insurance Institute, provided that they meet one of the following conditions:

A court judgement or other court decision according to which a person is obligated to pay alimony or child support to his spouse, to his child or to his parent.

A minor child, including an adopted minor child as well as a grown child who is not capable of supporting himself.

The person obligated by the judgement for alimony .

A woman who has been awarded maintenance payments must contact the Maintenance Department at the local NII branch closest to her place of residence in order to fill out an Application for Payment Under the Maintenance Law, and provide the claims officer with the following documents:

Maintenance payments are made to a woman as of the date on which she submits an application to the National Insurance Institute. Payment for the period that preceded submission of the application will only be made after a clarification is conducted by the claims officer and subject to the conditions of entitlement.

1.   Income from employment - A woman whose income from employment or from an wage-replacing benefit is equal to, or greater than, the Benefit nullification point is not entitled to maintenance payments from the National Insurance Institute.

      In cases in which the woman's income from employment or from an income replacing benefit is lower than the Benefit nullification point, part of the income is deducted (as specified in the regulations) from the amount due to her under the regulations.

      The amount that is paid to her will be as specified in the regulations or in the court judgment for maintenance payments, whichever is the lesser of the two.

 2.   Income from sources other than employment (a pension from the National Insurance Institute and from other entities, rent, capital and property), except for an income replacement benefit, is deducted in full from the amount due to her under the regulations. A woman whose income from sources other than employment is the same or greater than the amount due to her under the regulations is not entitled to maintenance payments from the National Insurance Institute. 

Maternity allowance, risk pregnancy benefit, injury allowance or severance pay.

The maximum amount of income from work or from a wage-replacing benefit (maternity allowance, risk pregnancy, injury allowance) entitling one to maintenance payment by means of the National Insurance Institute. A woman who earns an amount equal to or more than the benefit nullification point will not be entitled to maintenance payment by means of the NII.

The National Insurance Institute pays the amount specified in the court judgment for maintenance or the amount specified in the National Insurance regulations - whichever is the lesser of the two.

The woman’s income from employment and from other sources affects the amount specified in the National Insurance regulations.

You may be entitled to an income supplement if the court judgment specifies maintenance payments that are lower than the amount due to you under the regulations, and you are receiving the maintenance payments according to the amount specified in the court judgment. In such a case, you must contact the Income Support Department at the NII branch closest to your place of residence in order to check your entitlement.

If the court judgment specifies maintenance payments that are higher than the amount due to you under the regulations and you are receiving maintenance payments according to the amount specified in the regulations, you are entitled to the differentials only after the National Insurance Institute collects the amount specified in the court judgment from the debtor.

In cases in which the National Insurance Institute does not succeed in collecting the differentials for you, you are entitled to collect the differentials from the debtor on your own. To that end, you must obtain authorization from the claims officer in the Claims Department at your NII branch.

The National Insurance Institute will terminate the maintenance payments if one of the following occurs:

If a woman goes abroad, she will not receive maintenance payments during the time that she is abroad, subject to the following:

The National Insurance Institute will send you notification of the approval or denial of your application for maintenance payments within 30 days of submission of the application. An application that is denied may be appealed, and information about the appeals process are included in the notification of denial.

Information on the program to encourage the employment of single parents may be found on the Ministry's site.

A person who owes maintenance payments must reimburse the National Insurance Institute for the full amount that he was ordered to pay in the court judgment, as of the date on which the NII began to make the maintenance payments to his wife.

Upon commencement of payments to the wife, the National Insurance Institute sends a notice to the person who is obligated to pay the maintenance, in which he is requested to pay the NII the amounts he was ordered to pay in the court judgment. The notice also contains a payment coupon and an application form for automatic payments.

If a debtor does not regularly pay the amounts that he was ordered to pay in the court judgment, the National Insurance Institute may act against him with any means at its disposal, including collection proceedings.

If the National Insurance Institute collects amounts from the debtor – that are specified in the court judgment – which exceed the payments made to the wife according to the regulations, the National Insurance Institute will transfer the difference to the wife.