Paternity claims: how the father is determined, and what changes after the judgment
A paternity claim is a declaratory action in which the Family Court determines, or rules out, a man's paternity of a child. In most cases the decision rests on a genetic test, which is carried out only under a court order. This page explains who may sue, when the court refrains from ordering a test, and what follows from the judgment: maintenance, inheritance, name and contact.
"The genetic test answers the biological question. The court first asks whether that question may be asked at all."
Adv. Ester Efrati · Head of the Family and Inheritance Department
What a paternity claim is
A paternity claim asks the Family Court to declare that a particular man is, or is not, the father of a child. The remedy is declaratory, but the consequences are concrete: maintenance, inheritance, surname, parental responsibility and contact.
The need for a claim usually arises in one of three situations. A mother seeking maintenance from a man who denies paternity. A man seeking recognition of a child born outside marriage and a place in the child's life. And an adult wishing to know who his or her father is, sometimes in the context of an inheritance.
In all of these the factual question is the same, but the road to it differs, because the court weighs not only the biological truth but also the child's welfare.
Who may sue, and against whom
The claim may be brought by the mother on the minor's behalf, by the man alleged to be the father, by the child once an adult, and in certain circumstances by the Attorney General. The defendant is the person whose paternity is sought or denied, and sometimes his heirs.
Where the child is a minor, the court may appoint a guardian ad litem so that the child's interest is represented separately from that of the parents. This is a point parents tend to miss: the claim belongs to the child, even when the mother initiated it.
Jurisdiction lies, as a rule, with the Family Court. The law also provides for a test under an order of a religious court, on the conditions it sets, but even then the test is carried out under the rules of the law and not outside them.
The genetic test: only under an order
The central tool is a genetic test for family ties, commonly called a tissue test. In Israel it is carried out only under a court order, and in a laboratory approved for the purpose. A private test without an order is an offence, and its results are not evidence.
The order is not granted automatically. The court hears the parties, examines the preliminary evidence, and checks whether there is an obstacle to ordering the test. Where the child is a minor, the test requires the parent's consent or the court's approval.
The result of the test is evidence of very great weight, and in practice it decides most cases. But it is only evidence: the decision is the court's, in a judgment.
Genetic Information Law, 5761-2000, section 28A (testing only under an order of the Family Court) · section 38 (the offence of testing without an order). Checked September 2026.
When the court refrains from ordering a test
There is one situation in which the court is especially careful: where the mother was married to another man at the time of the pregnancy. In that situation, a finding that the father is a different man may affect the child's eligibility for marriage under Jewish religious law. The law requires the court to weigh that harm before ordering a test.
In such cases the Attorney General is joined to the proceedings, and the court may refrain from the test or order it on conditions. Sometimes the case is decided on other evidence, without a genetic test, in what is called a civil paternity claim.
This is why a paternity claim does not begin with a form but with a question: what might the test reveal, and who might be harmed by it.
Genetic Information Law, section 28E (a test whose findings may affect eligibility for marriage under Jewish law). Checked September 2026.
Refusing to be tested
A person ordered by the court to be tested who refuses cannot use the refusal as a shield. The law permits the court to draw from the refusal any conclusion it sees fit, and in practice an unexplained refusal tends to be read as an admission.
Alongside this, paternity can be established without a test, on evidence of a relationship between the parties in the relevant period: messages, photographs, testimony, medical records. The test shortens the road, but it is not the only road.
Someone who refuses on grounds of belief or privacy should also know that the refusal does not stop the proceedings. It only changes the evidence on which they will be decided.
Genetic Information Law, section 28H(b) (conclusions from a refusal to be tested). Checked September 2026.
What follows from the judgment
A judgment declaring paternity does not end with registration. It opens a whole system of rights and duties, in both directions.
- Maintenance: the father owes child maintenance under the law that applies to him. For Jews, until the age of six the duty rests on the father, and from six both parents bear it according to their incomes and parenting time, as the Supreme Court has held.
- Inheritance: the child becomes an heir by law of the father, unless the father directed otherwise in a will.
- Parental responsibility and contact: the father has the right and the duty to be involved in the child's life, and absent agreement the court fixes parenting time.
- Name and registration: the child is registered as the father's child in the population registry, and a change of surname may be requested.
Alongside these there is a dimension that is not legal: a child who knows who the father is, and a father who knows there is a child. Genetic and medical information also has value in the future.
Succession Law, 5725-1965, section 10 (the deceased's children as heirs by law) · Family Appeal Request 919/15 (division of the maintenance burden from age six). Checked September 2026.
When the alleged father has died
A paternity claim is possible after the death of the alleged father, usually in the context of an inheritance. The defendants are then his heirs, and the case is handled with double care, because the deceased cannot answer.
The court may order a genetic test of the deceased's relatives, from which the link can be inferred, and in exceptional cases a test of the deceased himself. Where neither road is possible, the decision rests on other evidence, and the evidentiary bar is high.
Anyone considering such a claim should act quickly: the succession proceedings move on, and it is harder to correct a distribution already made than to stop it in time.
Where a lawyer makes the difference
A paternity claim looks simple, one test and a judgment, but its preparation is what determines its outcome. The questions to answer before filing: who the right parties are, whether there is a concern for the child's marital eligibility, what evidence exists in case the test is not approved, and what is sought alongside the declaration, maintenance, parenting time or inheritance.
A defending party also needs preparation. The defence is not a refusal to be tested, since the refusal works against him, but an examination of the evidence, the dates and the ancillary remedies.
The proceedings are held in camera, but their results accompany the child for life. That is reason enough to conduct them properly from the first step.
In summary
In summary, a paternity claim is a declaratory proceeding centred on a court-ordered genetic test, but before ordering it the court weighs the child's welfare and the possible harm to the child's marital eligibility. Refusing to be tested is no shield, and the judgment brings maintenance, inheritance, registration and contact in its wake. The claim is possible even after the death of the alleged father.
The proceeding combines law, evidence and sensitivity, and the question of what the test might reveal has to be asked before filing, not after.
Contact us to examine your case and for information on the steps ahead of you.
What people ask us about paternity claims
Can a private paternity test be done without a court?
What happens if the man refuses to be tested?
Why might the court refuse to order a test?
Can an adult child file a paternity claim personally?
Can paternity be claimed after the father has died?
What changes in maintenance after paternity is established?
Does the child inherit from the father after the judgment?
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A short consultation meeting in which we examine who may sue, whether an obstacle to ordering a genetic test is to be expected, and what a declaratory judgment means for the side you represent.