Due to the monopoly held by the religious courts, some couples in Israel are denied the right to get married. This reality has led to the widespread recognition of common-law spouses. Despite the theoretical recognition, common-law couples encounter tiring bureaucratic procedures when trying to prove their legal entitlement to recognition. These procedures have led to the formation of unofficial certificates which are used as evidence as to the nature of the couples’ relationship. Despite not being issued by the government, these certificates are presented to public institutions, which in turn accept them, among other things, as conclusive evidence.
This paper presents, for the first time, the “next generation” of the family institution privatization in the Israeli context and exposes the “trickling” of power regarding the regulation of the common-law spouse institution down into the hands of private actors. The paper provides a “practical” aspect to the theoretical discussion on the common-law spouse topic, by examining the de-facto recognition of common-law couples and exposure of the "silent" privatization regarding the exercising of rights.
This paper presents a critical analysis of the privatization process and examines its influence on the right of disadvantaged groups to equality, and on the recognition of different family structures. The paper indicates that there is a “range of compromise”, wider than what has been thought of with regards to this issue, which includes a variety of supervisory and enforcement alternatives the state can implement, ranging anywhere between the nationalization of the family institution and its privatization.