Legal aid caseload reaches 154,552 files as debt, family disputes dominate report

The annual report details wartime assistance, a Supreme Court debt ruling, and wider access to help for older people facing financial exploitation.

The Justice Ministry’s Legal Aid Department opened 154,552 files in 2025, with family and debt matters accounting for most of its caseload, according to its annual report published on Wednesday.

Personal-status matters made up 35% of the files opened, and debts accounted for 30%, the report’s breakdown shows. Civil matters accounted for a further 10%, and National Insurance matters for seven percent. The figures describe files opened during the year, rather than the number of people represented or the outcomes of their cases.

The report also describes legal work arising from the October 7 attacks and the war. It says the department opened more than 3,500 files for bereaved families, families of hostages and returnees, and families of people murdered in the attacks between October 2023 and the second half of 2026. 

The department says it assists eligible immediate family members with benefits, inheritance, banking, housing and insurance matters, among others. Returned hostages can also seek help with legal needs connected to their captivity or the war. Assistance under this program is provided without a financial means test.

Some families are pursuing recognition as victims of hostile acts after witnessing attacks on relatives by telephone, messages or video.

Dozens of bereaved and hostage families appealing decisions

The department says it represents dozens of bereaved and hostage families appealing decisions by the approving authority.

It argues that relatives who witnessed the attacks remotely should be eligible for recognition; according to the report, the appeals remain pending before an appeals committee at the Tel Aviv District Court.

The report also points to a 2025 Supreme Court ruling in a debt case handled by legal aid. A woman whose actual earnings were below minimum wage challenged a monthly payment set during her debt proceedings.

The court held that minimum wage could not simply be treated as proof of what she earned or could earn, and sent the matter back for an assessment of her individual circumstances. The ruling did not itself set a new payment amount.

In another development, a law passed in December 2025 allows people aged 65 and over to seek legal aid in specified cases of alleged financial exploitation without a financial means test. The exemption applies to those cases, rather than to every legal matter involving an older person.

The wartime recognition appeals remain an open question. Their outcome will determine whether the families bringing those claims qualify for recognition on the basis of what they witnessed remotely.