Whatis thepurposeofa Tzavaah?
The Torah’s order of inheritance is specific. Daughters do not inherit if there are sons and the deceased’s siblings do not inherit if there are descendants. A man who wants his wife and daughters to benefit from his estate must utilize a valid halachic method to do so. His instructions, written or oral, cannot alter the Torah’s order of inheritance. A properly prepared Tzavaah is necessary to halachically ensure the financial security of one’s widow and daughters.
Is a secularWillortrusthalachicallyvalid?
The general consensus of the Poskim is that a secular Will cannot alter the halachic order of inheritance. Some Poskim maintain that a father’s secular Will imposes a mitzvah obligation on his heirs to follow the instructions recorded in his Will, but most Poskim disagree. Therefore, a secular Will is not a reliable method to assure the financial security of one’s widow and daughters. Placing assets in a trust is also halachically questionable. The only reliable method is leaving a Tzavaah.
HowdoestheTzavaahwork?
The Tzavaah circumvents the inheritance process by the father’s assumption of a financial obligation during his lifetime when all his assets are still in his possession. He obligates himself to pay a very large sum of money to his daughter(s), for instance, payable only when his death is imminent. During his lifetime, he has full and unrestricted control of his assets. The debt only goes into effect just prior to his death, and it must be repaid from the estate before there is any distribution to the heirs.
The debt, however, is conditional. If the sons grant the daughter a share of the estate, as specified by the father, the debt is retroactively null and void; the daughter receives her specified share and has no further claim to the estate. The sons will gladly give the daughter the specified share rather than risk losing their inheritance entirely.
Is the Tzavaahtraditional or a contemporary innovation?
The Tzavaah has been in use for many centuries. In earlier times, it was used to award daughters a half-share of the estate as part of her dowry. For instance, if a man had two sons and a daughter, each son would get forty percent of his estate and the daughter would receive twenty percent of the estate in the form of a post-death payment, not as inheritance, as explained above. Therefore, the tzavaah came to be known as shtar chatzi zachar, a certificate granting her half of what a male would receive. Later, it became customary to award daughters a full share.
