The Administrator General: which financial actions are approved, and when the file goes to court
Until August 2025, a guardian who wanted to carry out a significant financial action with another person's money had to apply to the court. Today a substantial part of those actions is examined administratively by the Administrator General, through an online application and within fixed timeframes. The court has not disappeared, but it is no longer the first stop.
"The court has not left the picture. It has moved from being the default to being the stop you reach when the file is not straightforward."
Adv. Ester Efrati · Head of the Family and Inheritance Department
What changed, and when
Amendment 21 to the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law was published in August 2024, and came into force one year later. From that date onward, applications to approve certain financial actions are submitted directly to the Administrator General rather than to the court.
The change is one of address and procedure, not of the substantive test. The question examined has stayed the same: does the action serve the person the guardianship exists to protect. The guardian's duties were not relaxed, and the money in question is not the guardian's own.
The amendment applies to applications submitted from the commencement date onward.
Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law (Amendment No. 21), 5784-2024. Commencement: 8 August 2025. Checked September 2026.
Who applies, and under which sections
The administrative route is open to three kinds of applicant:
- A guardian appointed for a person - for actions the law conditions on approval.
- A parent of a minor - for actions concerning the minor's property.
- An attorney under a continuing power of attorney - for actions the instrument requires approval for.
An application to approve a fee is also included.
The procedure refers to sections 20, 23, 32f(d), 47 and 56 of the Law. Administrator General procedure for approving financial actions. Checked September 2026.
Which actions enter the route
The procedure maps three families of action:
- Real estate actions - buying or selling a dwelling, letting it, taking a mortgage, and joining an urban renewal scheme.
- Financial actions above a defined threshold - including early withdrawal from a study fund.
- A gift, donation, loan or guarantee - these require approval at any amount, however small.
Buying or selling a vehicle is examined according to the scale of the funds used.
As of September 2026 the monetary threshold in the procedure stands at NIS 100,000. Figures in procedures are updated from time to time, so the current threshold should be confirmed at the time of filing.
Administrator General procedure for approving financial actions and examination policy. Checked September 2026.
How to apply, and the timeframes
The application is filed online. The procedure sets two dates worth knowing: an interim update within 21 days of the application being received, and a final decision within 60 days of a properly filed application.
The word "properly" is the point. An application missing documents does not start the clock, and the applicant is given a limited period to complete them. The period set in the procedure is therefore measured not from the day the form was sent, but from the day the file was complete.
Administrator General procedure for approving financial actions. Checked September 2026.
When the file goes to court
Cases where transfer is not discretionary
- Where the application states that the person the guardianship exists for objects to it.
- On the sale of a dwelling owned outright by a minor aged 16 or over, where written consent was not given.
- Under a continuing power of attorney - where the grantor objects, or where the action contradicts advance directives the grantor gave.
Cases where transfer is discretionary
Chiefly where the action is not economic for the person, where the expense is unreasonable relative to their assets, or where it harms the liquidity of their funds.
The right to ask that the matter be heard by the court, or by a competent religious court, is also preserved.
Administrator General procedure for approving financial actions and examination policy. Checked September 2026.
What is actually examined
The administrative route is faster, but it does not soften the question itself. The examination turns on three axes:
- Benefit to the person - whether the action serves them, rather than the person requesting it.
- Reasonableness of the expense - relative to the scale of their assets and their needs.
- Liquidity - whether, after the action, they will still have available means for living and for care.
Alongside these, the person's own position is examined so far as it can be established.
Three files from practice
Three kinds of file that recur in our work, and the aspect the examination focuses on in each.
A widow and minors: sale and replacement purchase
A widow asks to sell the family home, in which minors also hold rights, and to move to a home near her parents. The application is filed online. What is examined: the reasonableness of the price, the preservation of the minors' rights in the replacement property, and whether the move serves the family's welfare. In files of this kind, protective conditions are also weighed, such as holding the proceeds or registering a caution until registration is completed.
A reverse mortgage to fund long-term care
An attorney under a continuing power of attorney asks to generate cash flow to fund a stay in a long-term care facility. What is examined: the valuation of the property, the net cash flow after costs, the care purpose, and whether future rights are harmed disproportionately.
A gift or donation to a relative
A gift, donation, loan or guarantee requires approval at any amount. What is examined: whether express authority exists, what justifies the action, and how it stands relative to the person's assets and means. The more material the sum, the more substantial the justification required.
Where a lawyer makes a difference
Most delays do not arise from a dispute but from an incomplete application: a missing document, an explanation that does not connect the action to the need, or wording that leaves the examiner without an answer.
Proper preparation does three things. It presents the action from the person's point of view rather than the guardian's. It answers, in advance, the questions the procedure asks anyway. And it identifies at the outset whether the file falls into one of the cases where transfer to court is mandatory, so that months are not lost on the way.
In summary
Amendment 21 shortened the road, not the law. The guardian's duties remain as they were, and the money in question is not theirs. What changed is that the straightforward file is examined administratively and within known timeframes, while the file that is not straightforward reaches the court - but reaches it in order.
Handling an application of this kind calls for familiarity with the procedure, with the cases in which transfer to court is mandatory, and with how to present the action from the perspective of the person concerned.
Contact us to review the action you are considering and for information on the route that applies to it.
What people ask us about approving financial actions
Do I still need to go to court?
How long does it take?
What happens if documents are missing?
Does a small gift also require approval?
What if the person objects to the action?
Does the amendment apply to older files?
Can I ask for the matter to be heard in court?
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A short diagnostic call in which we examine whether the action falls within the administrative route, which documents will be required, and whether the file is one of the cases where transfer to court is mandatory.