In Israeli debt collection, the creditor’s attorney fee is added to the debt the debtor must pay, in stages. The "stage B" fee is added only after the debtor has been properly served with the Execution Office (Israel’s civil debt-enforcement authority) warning, the period in it has passed, and the creditor has taken real collection steps. Under section 10 of Israel’s Execution Law the fee is treated as an expense of the file and accrues linkage and interest. An American reader would call it fee-shifting written into the collection file itself.
The condition is proper service. No warning that reached the debtor, no elapsed period, no stage B. The other side described the condition the same way in a request it filed in this very case.
What happened in this case
Sergei Yagudin, a licensed private investigator and the owner of the car, is the debtor in two Execution Office files opened by Mizrahi Tefahot Leasing, part of Bank Mizrahi Tefahot: promissory-note file 506468-12-24 in Netanya and vehicle-pledge file 515509-06-24 in Haifa. In the note file a stage B fee of 21,456.50 shekels was added in January 2025, on the basis of a warning reported as served on him on 22.12.2024. [1]
In October 2025 the registrar found, from Israel’s border entry and exit records, that on the reported service date the debtor was outside the country. The registrar corrected the service date and ordered "the cancellation of all proceedings carried out in the file, and the cancellation of the stage B fee that was added to the debt". [1]
Two files, two versions
In July 2026 the same 21,456.50 shekels appeared in the creditor’s debt ledger in the pledge file, as part of the debt for which the car was sold. Yagudin pointed it out, and the registrar ordered the creditor to explain "the reason for leaving this component". The reply of 31.8.2026 blamed "a technical gap in updating the bank’s systems only" and said there was "no basis for the stage B fee component in the debt". [2]
The same day, in the note file, a request was filed to award the fee "again". It said the cancellation "stemmed solely from the extension of time ... and not from any reason on the merits". On 9.9.2026 the registrar granted it in one line: "As requested, in accordance with the provisions of the Execution Law." The next day the amount was back on the debt with a value date of 5.6.2026, three months before the decision. [3]
Yagudin argues that the request misdescribed the cancellation: it rested on the finding that the warning could not have been handed to him that day, which goes to the merits of how the case began. Nor did the request mention that, the same day, the other file had been told there was "no basis" for the fee. The full texts are published, redacted, on the investigation site.
Why this is not a technicality
A fee is payment for work done lawfully. When its basis is a service the registrar found could not have happened, cancelling it is not the creditor’s generosity but the correction of the process. Whoever asks to restore it owes the registrar the reason it was cancelled. Half a truth to two registrars, in two files, on one day, is not a systems glitch. It is the question American lawyers call candor to the tribunal: whether good faith in litigation is a rule or a suggestion.
Questions people ask
What is a stage B attorney fee in Israeli debt collection?
The creditor’s attorney fee added to the debt in the second stage of an Execution Office file, after the warning was served, the period in it passed, and real collection steps were taken. Under section 10 of the Execution Law it is treated as an expense and accrues linkage and interest.
What happens to the fee if the warning was not properly served?
A registrar who finds the warning was not served on the reported date can cancel the proceedings built on it, including the fee. That happened in file 506468-12-24 in October 2025.
Can a cancelled collection fee be awarded again?
The creditor may ask and the registrar may decide. Here the request was granted on 9.9.2026 in a one-line decision, and the amount was re-entered with a value date earlier than the decision.
What is a value date in an Execution Office ledger?
The date from which linkage and interest accrue on an item. A value date earlier than the decision adds interest for a period in which the fee had not been awarded.
Who is Sergei Yagudin?
A licensed private investigator in Israel and the car owner in the proceedings brought by Mizrahi Tefahot Leasing. This archive documents those proceedings from his side, on the basis of the documents.
Procedural status
The proceedings in both files are pending. Claims attributed to Sergei Yagudin are his and have not been decided. The decisions quoted are those of Execution Office registrars; nothing here is a finding of fact.
Responses
A written request for comment on the matters described here will be sent to the other side. Any response received will be published here in full, promptly.
Sources
- Registrar’s decision of 21.10.2025, file 506468-12-24 (Netanya), and the file’s action report.Proceeding documents; a full redacted text is published on mizrahi-tfahot-case.com.
- Registrar’s decision of 16.8.2026 and the receiver’s reply of 31.8.2026, file 515509-06-24 (Haifa).Proceeding documents.
- Creditor’s request of 31.8.2026 to award the stage B fee, and the decision of 9.9.2026.Proceeding documents; a neutral record is on israel-bank-rulings.org.
Artificial intelligence assisted in drafting this text. The content was checked and approved before publication. Nothing here is legal advice.