Period of Stay of Proceedings pursuant to the Family Dispute Litigation Arrangement (Temporary Order), 2014

A stay of proceedings applies as of submitting the petition for dispute resolution and for 60 days, where no claims can be filed. A petition may be filed to shorten or extend this period, utilizing one of the alternatives set forth in the Litigation Arrangement Law. In addition, the parties may agree to extend the stay of proceedings in an attempt to settle the dispute without legal proceeding.

Nevertheless, the parties may petition for temporary relief during the stay of proceedings, such as a petition for an attachment order, petition for a stay of exit order or petition to retain the status quo. In addition, in exceptional cases in which the interval until the first Mahut meeting will cause real damage to the parties or their children, as the case may be, a party may also petition for urgent relief during the stay of proceedings. Such a petition may be a petition for temporary alimony / child support or a petition to ensure minor contact with each of the parents.

It is important to note, that although a party petitioned for dispute settlement in a certain instance, the other party may petition to the other instance for temporary/urgent relief. Furthermore, the party petitioning for dispute settlement is not obligated by the other party’s selection of instance and he/she may file petitions for temporary/urgent relief to an instance upon his/her discretion. However, once a party filed a petition for temporary/urgent relief to a certain instance, he/she is committed to further filing any other petition of temporary/urgent relief thereto. This can thus lead to a situation in which Party A files a petition for dispute settlement to the court, Party B files a petition for temporary/urgent relief to the Rabbinical Court and then Party A files a petition for temporary/urgent relief to the court. Alternately, there may be a situation in which Party A filed a petition for dispute resolution to the court, then filed a petition for temporary/urgent relief to the Rabbinical Court and then Party B files a petition for temporary/urgent relief to the court. In other words, several legal instances will concurrently deliberate over the matters of the same family during the stay of proceedings. However, the instance to which the petition for dispute settlement/temporary/urgent relief is submitted cannot determine the authority to deliberate over the claim to be submitted after the stay of proceedings.

It is important to emphasize that legal counsel and lawyer accompaniment is recommended even when filing a petition for dispute settlement. Filing a petition for dispute settlement does not nullify the need for professional advice and guidance. This includes legal advice on propositions formed through aid or external mediation, accompaniment to meetings, filing petitions and responses during the stay or proceedings, selection of the instance for petitioning for a temporary/urgent relief, representation in related hearings (if any), etc.