Ze’ev Welner, Advocates

Ze’ev Welner Advocates is a leading Israeli boutique law firm, specializing in Inheritance, family, marriage and divorce, adult and child guardianship, common law spouses, and family property disputes in general. The firm is one of the most experienced law firms in Israel, and has received top-tier rankings for consecutive years in its field. The firm is renowned for its expertise in family and inheritance law, thanks to the substantial precedents that it achieved and the knowledge and reputation gained by Adv. Welner as an authority in over 40 years of experience. Adv. Welner is one of the few lawyers in Israel whom are members of the exclusive association - International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (IAML), which has only 1,000 members, all leading matrimonial lawyers, dealing with disputes involving international aspects. Adv. Welner counsels and represents clients from all of the population’s segments, from litigants from low socio-economic classes, through middle class and up to leaders from the Israeli and global economy, including NBA and tennis stars and Israeli and foreign celebrities.

Over 40 years of Diligence and Success

Ze’ev Welner Advocates was founded in the mid- 70s. The firm initially handled a wide range of legal sectors, mainly commercial and criminal. Once the firm had obtained experience in the commercial field, won many cases and created precedents at the Supreme Court, Adv. Welner began specializing in family and inheritance law while using his vast commercial experience. Adv. Welner has been working in this sector with dedication, diligence and great success ever since.
Adv. Welner has an LL.B. from the Tel Aviv Branch of the Law Faculty at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His vast expertise in complex cases, including many commercial and property elements is widely recognized by the legal community. Adv. Welner represents Israel’s wealthiest people as well as clients in distress having no financial resources. He manages with wisdom and creativity sensitive cases in the children’s area, including child support, custody, visitation, child abduction and immigration. Adv. Welner is often invited to participate and lecture in professional panels at various conferences, including the conference of the Israeli Bar Association. Adv. Welner has recently moderated two panels dealing with family law conflicting with bankruptcy law, in which a court president and district judges participated, as well as panels on protection orders and harassment prevention, genetic information and parenting and illegitimacy testing, child support, and property division from the Law perspective, and participated in panels and lectures for lawyers on pre-nuptial agreements and court-appointed experts. Adv. Welner lectures at Kiryat Ono College on current affairs and changes related to family and inheritance law. Over the years Adv. Welner has published dozens of articles on family and inheritance law and public and current affairs. Initially, He wrote for Globes newspaper, and after he founded the legal website “Psak Din”, his articles were regularly published on it. Most of the articles are based on his professional work, achievements and precedents, while some are general professional articles based on independent research and vast professional knowledge. A collection of his articles would be published soon.

Practice Areas

The firm handles all of the various aspects of family and inheritance law, including: Inheritance - including wills and testaments, objections to wills, inheritance agreements;
Family Law - marriage and divorce;
Spouses Agreements - including prenuptials, nuptials, cohabitation, divorce;
Divorce cases - in rabbinical and family courts;
Guardianship Appointment of guardians for adults and children, guardianship litigation and protection of the wards’ property while caring for their needs.
Support in Mediations and Dispute Negotiations; Consulting to Israeli and Foreign Lawyers; Litigation and Cross-Examinations - Appearance and representation at various tribunals in the family and inheritance areas, including at family courts, civil courts, rabbinical courts, district courts and the Supreme Court (both appeals and petitions to the High Court of Justice), arbitrators, mediators, etc.;
Family Property Law - Court cases involving different disciplines in family law, contract law, corporate law and bankruptcy law, etc.;
Children - Custody, visitation, abduction, immigration, parenting claims, child support, etc.
Spouse’s Rights and Obligations - preserving the parties’ rights, alimony trials, etc.
Domestic Violence - Protection orders, injunctions, restraining orders, etc.; The firm engages in marital agreements, divorce agreements as well as rabbinical and family courts and appeals;
Commercial Law - Family commercial disputes;
International Cases - Counselling in family affairs including a private international aspect and support of clientele cases abroad – the firm counsels in the international fields of family and inheritance law. Adv. Welner has personal relationships with the best family lawyers in various countries and he organizes teams of lawyers in complex family cases abroad. The verdicts that he obtained in family law in Monaco, Germany, England and the U.S. show his beneficial involvement there.

Legal Precedents

Adv. Welner has initiated petitions to the High Court of Justice and created major precedents in family and constitutional law in Israel, including: High Court of Justice appeal 1000/92 Bavli V. the Rabbinical Court, which transformed Matrimonial Law and granted equal rights for women at the rabbinical tribunals. High Court of Justice appeal 5466/94. Ze’ev Welner V. the Israeli Labor Party, opposing to the change of liberal rules regarding family and inheritance matters and forbidding the signing of coalition agreements designed to bypass the High Court of Justice by negative legislation. Adv. Welner is responsible for additional precedents including a precedent on paternity tests, which reversed the longstanding practices implemented until then, tissue classification testing technique, the first precedent regarding child abduction by The Hague Convention, implemented in Israel at that time. Adv. Welner has further initiated innovative rulings regarding contract and civil laws.

Legal Website “Psak Din” www.psakdin.co.il

In 2000 Adv. Welner founded the Israeli legal website “Psak Din”, which is one of the prominent Israeli law websites. Hundreds of thousands of browsers visit the website monthly and it deals in all the legal fields. All active members of the Israeli Bar Association are subscribed, as well as tens of thousands of professionals, organizations, companies and businessmen. When establishing the website, Adv. Welner focused on rendering justice for all, making the legal information accessible to everyone. “Psak Din” is unique in its approach providing legal information, considered a legal guide and is nowadays being globally expanded.

Planning & Separation of Private & Business Property during Family or Marital Crises

The firm has a “one stop shop” for the most important legal-economic advice to clients undergoing a family or marital crisis.