Investigation case: a forged will and a real heir

Olga, a fake name immigrated from Russia with her husband at the beginning of the last century, the couple had no children and no relatives in Israel. The couple traded gold from a store on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv, accumulated capital and purchased over ten apartments in Tel Aviv. In the 1950s, A’s husband died and she inherited all his property and lived alone in northern Tel Aviv. A. Galamuda died in the seventies. All of her large property has been managed since her death by the general guardian, since she did not leave a will and no legal heirs were known.

Several years ago, a team of Focus Investigations began investigating the case. A comprehensive search was made for the deceased’s heirs and a sole heir, a relative, was discovered. The heir did not know the couple due to the generation gap, but according to law he is the heir. After a referral from Focus Investigations, a request was submitted to the Family Court and the subject is in the process of verifying that he is indeed the sole heir.

But suddenly a will appeared…

During searches for heirs of Georgian immigrants, a Tel Aviv lawyer contacted a Georgian immigrant and asked him for assistance in gathering information in the community. In a casual conversation, the lawyer told about A and her large property. A short time later a handwritten will appeared, bearing a date several years earlier than A’s death in which she bequeaths all her property to the son of the maker of the will. Signatures of two “witnesses” were found on the will. The beneficiary of the will went to court and asked for the property to be transferred to his name.

The general guardian opposed the request and contacted the beneficiary of the will to get clarifications. The father does not get confused and presents a story according to which A was sitting in the hospital near him many years ago while he was waiting for the birth of his son. A conversation developed between them and since A. was a minor, she asked to name the son who was born after her father Eliyahu. The father agrees and calls his son Eliyahu. According to the story, A is invited to the alliance but instead a messenger arrives with a gold pendant as a gift and since then the relationship with her is severed. The executor of the will shows the locket to the representative of the guardian.

When Eliyahu reaches adulthood, a messenger knocks on the door of their house and delivers an envelope containing the deceased’s “will”. So far the story is perfect.

After an in-depth investigation carried out by the operations department of Focus Investigations, we discovered an essential detail: near Jerusalem we located the son of one of the “witnesses to the will”, who of course could not be questioned since they passed away long before the “will” was submitted to the court. The son said that his father would sometimes help the beneficiary of the will in the business he ran in the field of beer bottles.

The conclusions of the investigation revealed that the will was forged and the “witnesses” who signed the will were not even alive when it was written.

In 2007, an indictment was filed against the beneficiary of the forged will, later he was tried, convicted and sentenced to actual imprisonment.