Abandoned Property - What is it?
According to Israeli law “abandoned property” is defined as a property where “no individual has been found who is authorized and capable of practicing as its owner or manager or where the owner is unknown” [ General Administrator Law — 1978, section (1)].
Although this definition applies in Israeli law, it reflects the essence of it being an abandoned property according to all legal systems around the world.
Office for land registration - the 1930s
The basis for this definition is found in the ruling that at a legal level, as it is considered an abandoned property no one is entitled to manage it according to the practice of an owner and as such the owner is “not found” or is “unknown”.
The status of: “not found” — is applicable for example in a situation where the identity of the owner is known but his heirs are unknown. The status of: “unknown” — is applicable for example in a situation where the owner himself is not identified and/or unknown.
Old register of deeds
The second situation is the one that characterizes the majority of cases with which the company deals; this is the most complicated situation as the task facing the company is twofold — in the first stage to identify the original owner, and in the second stage to locate his heirs.
In the situation where the property is abandoned, it is exposed to harm arising from the fact that no one is legally authorized to appear and defend the rights to the property by formulated steps, legal proceedings, etc. and more seriously, the property is exposed to attempts by fraudsters to harm or steal the rights to the property, and such instances add a complication to the work of the company — i.e., a race against the clock.
Discharge of mortgage Eighteenth century
- In the past Advocate Michael Goldstein has been approached by officials from the Israel Ministry of Justice who had identified attempts to steal land purchased by French citizens several decades ago. The attempt at stealing was carried out using notarized documents suspected of being forged but it was not possible to prove this), and the only way to thwart this attempt at theft was by means of research work carried out by Advocate Michael Goldstein to identify the original holder, locating their heirs, conducting legal action for the recognition of rights of the heirs to the land and dealing with the legal procedure by means of Advocate Michael Goldstein to cancel the attempted theft [legal files — in the Haifa district court — 001194/05 and 13639-12-09).
- Currently the company is dealing with recognition of rights of heirs to an abandoned property in Israel, consisting of a piece of land planned to become a commercial center — and in the framework of allocation of rights to the building of the commercial center the absentee owner’s rights to the land were discriminated against due to the fact that there was no qualified individual present to appear on his behalf.
Deed of sale eighteenth century
Taking an example at a criminal level, the abandoned property is the equivalent of an individual who has been murdered and cannot be identified, and the work of the company is a combination of identifying the murdered individual, a criminal investigation to locate those involved, building a legal file, prosecuting and managing the legal process until pronouncement of the verdict.