זקנה אחרת: ההיבטים המשפטיים של משפחות חדשות בזִקנה בישראל

The article deals with the three-way meeting point of the law, the growing elderly population, and the changing structure of families in Israel. This meeting point centers on "new families in old age", including a variety of new family compositions such as sibling cohabitation, spouses living in separate apartments, and senior-citizen spouses of the same gender. Given this unique intersection, this article presents - for the first time in the Israeli legal context - legal discourses concerning new families in old age,and empirically examines whether and to what extent the legal system in Israel grants these families recognition and respects human rights.Methodologically, the article analyzes - quantitatively and qualitatively - all the rulings that deal with the new families in old age which Israeli courts handed down over the past 25 years. The findings revealed several key themes: first, most of these cases were heard in labor courts and dealt with the recognition of unmarried heterosexual couples as part of disputes over pension rights, and; most of the lawsuits were filed by women and accepted by the courts, thus plaintiffs received legal recognition of their family status. Second, the rulings mainly gave extended judicial interpretations and reconstructed existing legislation in order to recognize new families in old age; the rulings further made old age cohabitation legally significant (particularly regarding care and dependence aspects). These findings led to two key insights: the importance of gerontological knowledge on sociological and psychological aspects of new elderly amilies in the legal system; and the need for advanced legal planning by new families so as to secure their legal rights.