In the late 1990s, H., a resident of Gush Dan, lived in a rented apartment with his wife. He operated a clothing store for years, but the business closed at a loss.
In 1999, he injured his legs, stopped working, and has not returned to employment since.
During this period, H. and his wife ran into financial difficulties and were unable to pay their rent. After several months of non-payment, he was evicted from the apartment, the lock was changed, and he was left homeless. He said he was forced to sleep on the street for several days.
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The debt that arose during that period led to the opening of an enforcement case against him, with the principal amount only amounting to tens of thousands of shekels.
At the same time, H.'s financial situation deteriorated and he was left to live solely on pensions. After his wife's death, he moved to live with his children in his parents' house, and later, after his parents' death, he gave up his share of the inheritance in exchange for continuing to live in the property, after his brothers demanded that he pay rent.
Over the years, additional debts accumulated against him and 26 additional enforcement cases were opened against him. He was declared a debtor with limited means and paid 150 shekels a month to the foreclosure fund, and he also failed to meet this many times.
In 2005, a restraining order was imposed on him to prevent him from leaving the country. Over the years, he went in and out of case consolidation procedures and delays in proceedings. At the same time, the original debt continued to accrue interest and grew until it reached over 600,000 shekels.
In addition, it was claimed that for long periods no significant collection proceedings were taken against him. On the other hand, the winner claimed that she could not act due to delays in proceedings and judicial decisions, and that the debtor himself acted through repeated requests to consolidate cases in order to delay the proceedings.
After nearly three decades of dealing with the enforcement system, the debtor turned to attorney Zvi Weishengard, co-chair of the Insolvency Committee at the Bar Association.
In this context, Attorney Weishengard filed a request for execution to close the case.
In the application, he claimed that this was a case that had been neglected for years, when the debt had ballooned to unusual proportions without effective collection actions being taken, and that its continued existence violated his client's rights.
The owner of the apartment, the winner, opposed the application, claiming that the debtor is evading payment, not meeting minimum payments, and submitting frivolous applications. She also claimed that over the years the debtor has been involved in consolidation proceedings and procedural delays that prevented her from acting, and that she intends to take collection steps once the restrictions are lifted.
At a hearing held in February 2026, the debtor was questioned and stated that he had no assets, vehicle, or savings, and that his financial situation was extremely difficult. He described his life circumstances, the loss of his ability to work, and the death of his wife.
The parties agreed that inspections would be carried out to locate assets, and that if none were found, the case could be closed.
After checks with various parties, no assets were found in the debtor's name. As a result, Registrar Chen Levy of the Tel Aviv Enforcement Office decided to close the enforcement file immediately.
Thus came to an end a struggle that lasted almost three decades, during which a debt of tens of thousands of shekels swelled to over 600,000 shekels.
According to Adv. Weishengard, this is a just and important decision by the Chen Levy Registry. "As long as no way has been found to repay a huge debt from assets or funds not in the debtor's possession, simply leaving the case in place becomes a huge burden on him, while not serving his creditors at all. This is a humane and humane decision, which allows the debtor to continue his life free from a debt that he got into against his will decades ago - and which was not expected to be repaid for many years to come.".
Adv. Vishengard serves as Chairman of the Insolvency Committee at the Bar Association and in the Central District and specializes in representing debtors in insolvency and financial rehabilitation proceedings.
