The phenomenon of parental alienation has been known for a long time. In recent years, awareness of the phenomenon has grown, both in the Knesset and in the courts, and has created a welcome change. We are familiar with this phenomenon mainly in difficult divorce proceedings, when one parent poisons and incites the child against the other parent, sometimes to the point of complete disconnection. This phenomenon is destructive and causes a lot of damage, both in the short term and in the long term. The phenomenon of alienation, of incitement, also exists in parents of the third age, this time from the opposite direction, when one of the children incites the parent against a sibling.
To contact attorney Hila Tzairi, click here
Lawyer Hila Tzairi (Photo: Yeh’ach)
There is a lot of similarity between our situation in our youth and our situation in our old age, in both situations we are helpless and in need of help. In this place, characters can enter who can have a very manipulative influence and take advantage of the situation to their advantage. Here, the damage may reach wills and inheritances, when on the one hand we are talking about property and on the other hand the true will of the parent. Therefore, dealing with wills and continuing power of attorney in the third age requires us to recognize the phenomenon of parental alienation, when this time it is not the parent who alienates, but the child who alienates the parent against the other child, and to determine that this is an influence that neutralized the deceased’s free will.
What do you do when one of the children incites the parent and leads to the dispossession of his brother or a significant change in his favor in the will? Is there anything we can do in this case? Can we demand the annulment of this will? The answer to that, it turns out, is not simple. There are many cases where the siblings, the children, use their parents in a manipulative way and “poison” them against the other parent, i.e. create an unfair influence. But according to the law there is not necessarily a reason to cancel the will, especially when it comes to a will writer who was aware of his actions and cognitively and physically capable of editing and signing it. The ruling of the Family Court regarding “unfair influence” will not necessarily help either, where it was determined, among other things, that if the deceased was in contact with the “outside world” the chance of unfair influence decreases significantly.
What can be done if alienation is detected in the third age? Attorney Hila Tzairi, who specializes in inheritance and wills law, says that in such cases, we must first and foremost understand that it is not the parent. “Despite the difficulty,” she emphasizes, “don’t give up, keep in touch, send messages, call, try using a third party . It doesn’t always help, and it can be very frustrating, but sometimes the situation improves.”
According to Adv. “There are situations,” she adds, “in which a lawsuit can even be filed with the Family Court in order to establish custody arrangements for the elderly with their children. Such a procedure will be accompanied by an examination by a social worker on behalf of the welfare, what is the condition of the parent. At the same time, in cases where he was left A continuous power of attorney in favor of the estranged child, or if the elderly is estranged but is sane, it will be a problem to act.”
Anat Lifshitz: “Alienation in old age as an unfair influence following the law of intertwined threads” Harat Din Yad (2005).
To contact attorney Hila Tzairi, click here
The article is courtesy of the legal portal obiter.co.il
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