Family mediation is a process in which family members – couples, separated parents, siblings, heirs, children and parents – sit together with a neutral mediator in order to build agreements that allow everyone to move on with their lives in a more stable and clear way. Instead of handing your life over to an overloaded court system where a third party makes decisions for you, mediation gives you back control. You know your family far better than any judge, and you are the ones who have to live with the agreements in practice.

The New Partnership method, developed by Nadav Nishri out of thousands of hours of mediation with families in Israel and abroad, was born from a simple but profound understanding: families are not looking only for a legal document, but for a way to come out of the crisis with less damaged relationships and with parental cooperation that can keep functioning in real life. Instead of asking again and again why we reached this point, the method asks where you want to go from here.

In mediation with the New Partnership method we deliberately connect two arenas. The emotional-family arena relates to pain, loss of trust, fear, economic anxiety, concern for the children and the family stories each person brings with them. It creates a protected space where it is possible to say the truth without turning the conversation into another battlefield. Alongside this operates the legal- contractual arena, which organizes the reality on the ground: where people live, how income and expenses are divided, what happens with assets, what appears in wills and what is required so that the agreements will stand the test of time and the law.

The method is not therapy instead of mediation and not law instead of emotion. It is a combined process that understands that the crisis is both emotional and legal, and that if we address only half of the picture, the damage will often resurface later in a sharper form. People first, clauses afterwards.

Family mediation with the New Partnership method is designed for families standing at a turning point. It may be a couple considering divorce, parents who have already decided to separate but want to do it in a way that protects their children, siblings in conflict over an inheritance, or a family struggling to agree on how to care for a sick or aging parent. In the background there is almost always an understanding that court proceedings could deepen the rift and turn it into something irreversible.

The process is particularly suitable for families who know they will continue to meet after the crisis: parents who will keep showing up together at medical appointments, school events and military ceremonies; siblings who will meet at holidays and family gatherings; children and grandchildren who will keep living inside the family network that the adults are shaping for them now. Even in families living in several countries, or in bi-national families, international mediation makes it possible to conduct the conversation and build agreements respectfully, taking into account cultural and language differences and different time zones.

If you feel that the crisis is “too big to handle alone”, but you also do not want to stand facing each other with lawyers in a courtroom, family mediation with the New Partnership method offers a professional, sensitive and clear framework in which things can be handled differently – without giving up legal protection and without giving up your humanity.

Divorce mediation – building a separation that allows you to keep living

Divorce mediation is one of the core fields of the firm. It is an intensive, emotional and challenging process, but also an opportunity to put the real questions on the table: what will your lives look like after the divorce, what story will the children tell about the separation, and how can you maintain functioning co-parenting in two separate homes.

In a New Partnership divorce mediation process you define together the future picture of parental and financial life. You clarify how the children’s week will look, what the parental responsibilities of each parent are, how you will manage finances once you are no longer a single household, and what anchors will give everyone stability. The understandings built in the mediation room are translated into a full divorce agreement, covering parenting time, parental responsibility, a child support or expense-sharing framework, division of property, mortgage and savings arrangements, debts and everything else needed so that life after separation is as clear as possible.

The agreement drafted at the end of the mediation is intended to receive the status of a court judgment in the family court or religious court. By that point, all issues relating to the divorce – parenting time, child-related expenses, division of property and practical arrangements – are already closed and agreed. Once the agreement is confirmed by the court, there is no need to return to mediation in order to revisit those clauses, and there is no need to open legal proceedings around what has already been resolved. Mediation becomes a complete path – from the moment you decide to separate until a new reality is created in which each of you knows your roles and responsibilities.

Couple mediation – not every couple that comes to mediation ends up divorcing

Some couples come to mediation not to end the relationship, but to understand whether and how it can be saved. Couple mediation makes it possible to pause the automatic cycle of arguments at home and move the conversation into a protected space where there is room for both partners. Instead of trying to win against each other, the couple is invited to clarify together what matters to them, what is missing, what hurts and what could change.

The process touches the everyday components of the relationship: distribution of responsibilities at home, raising children, money, boundaries with extended family, couple time, personal space, intimacy, career and life stages. Out of the conversation, agreed-upon mechanisms for moving forward are built: how decisions are made, how conflicts are dealt with, what each partner commits to bring into the coming period, and what a good relationship looks like for you in practice. In some cases, a written memorandum of understandings is prepared, summarizing what has been agreed and reminding both partners of the path they chose.

Reconciliation and alternative divorce agreements – two open doors, one clear path

Some couples do not want to rush into ending their marriage, yet also know that the current situation cannot continue. For them, a reconciliation and alternative divorce agreement is a precise tool. It is a dual-track agreement: on one hand it defines a framework for reconciliation; on the other it already includes the terms and arrangements should the couple eventually choose to divorce.

On the reconciliation track, the couple talks in mediation about all the issues that make up their relationship. They address the division of roles at home, the way they raise their children, the place of extended family, money, personal time, couple time and everything that touches their daily lives. From this conversation they build agreed-upon mechanisms for how to act: how decisions are made, what each partner is willing to do in order to try to restore the relationship, how progress is measured, and what happens if one of them feels that things are not moving.

On the divorce track, the agreement already includes everything needed for a respectful and orderly separation. The issues relating to divorce – parenting time, child-related expenses framework, division of property, financial responsibility and other key topics – are written clearly in advance. Once the couple decides to activate the divorce track, the agreement can receive the status of a court judgment, and they enter the separation period with the arrangements already laid out. There is no need at that point to start a new mediation process or to open a new legal battle over the same issues, because the path has been agreed in advance.

Mediation between family members – inheritance, wills, guardianship and caring for a parent

Not all family conflicts occur between spouses. Some of the hardest disputes arise between siblings, between parents and adult children or between different generations around money, assets, inheritance, guardianship or the care of a sick or elderly parent. In such situations, family mediation creates a space in which people can talk openly and respectfully before the dispute reaches court or turns into permanent estrangement.

In inheritance and will disputes, questions arise about how to divide apartments, money and investments, what is fair toward the child who took care of the parent compared with a sibling who lives far away, what to do when one of the children still lives in the parents’ home, and what happens when the family business is both a source of income and a source of tension. Alongside legal rules, mediation addresses deep feelings of unfairness and “being the less-favored child”, and attempts to build agreements that take into account both emotional justice and legal frameworks.

In mediation about guardianship and caring for a sick or aging parent, the family faces questions of who carries responsibility, who makes decisions, how to divide financial and time burdens, and what happens when one sibling feels that they are “carrying everything alone”. In mediation, roles are defined, decision-making procedures are agreed, mechanisms for transparency are established and there is agreement on medical, financial and legal steps – in a way that protects the parent without destroying sibling relationships.

Family mediation can also deal with family businesses, loans, partnerships and long-standing disputes. The goal is not to erase the past, but to choose how relationships will look from now on – whether as an ongoing war or as a new reality in which, even if differences and anger remain, there is a framework of mutual respect and clear understandings.

No two families are alike, yet most mediation processes share a similar flow. At the beginning there is an intake and orientation meeting in which we form a broad picture together: the current situation, who is involved, how the children are doing, what financial pressures exist and what kind of future you would like to create. In this conversation you receive a full explanation of what mediation is, what it can and cannot do, and how it is different from a court process. We set initial goals, a shared language, a time frame and an estimate of the number of hours, so that you know in advance what you are entering.

During the process we map all the issues that need to be addressed. In divorce cases, topics such as children, parenting time, careers, housing and money are placed on the table. In inheritance or guardianship cases, we look at assets, wills, medical condition and each person’s sense of justice. The distinction between what each person says they want and what they really need opens space for new solutions.

We then move from exploration to action. Together we build several options for life after the crisis, not just for the day the agreement is signed. We look at reality one year ahead and five years ahead, and examine what will actually work for you and for the children. Decisions are not made according to a single fixed formula but are tailored to the family’s living arrangements, financial background and composition, including cases where family members live in two or more countries.

The next stage is sharpening the agreements. Sometimes the direction is clear after only a few meetings; sometimes more work is needed in order to reach a formula that allows all parties to breathe. Agreements are written in simple, clear language so that everyone understands exactly what has been decided. Only once everything is clear on the human level do we move to the formal legal wording.

The legal wording turns what was built in the mediation room into a structured agreement that can be presented to the court. It gives official force to the understandings, protects the parties formally and allows you to open a new chapter in your life, knowing that the legal and contractual foundations are in place. The entire process is designed to be significantly shorter than a full legal battle, yet not so short that it skips the issues that truly matter to your family.

Nishri Mediators is an international mediation firm working from Israel with families across the globe. Alongside in-person meetings, we support couples, parents and siblings living in Europe, North America and other regions through online mediation tailored to differences in language, culture and time zones. Our professional approach is consistent, while its implementation is adjusted to local legal systems and to the real-life circumstances of each family.

Nadav Nishri, founder of the firm and the New Partnership method, is considered one of the leading voices in the mediation field in Israel. His books – “Divorcing in Peace”, “New Partnership” and “Mediation as a Martial Art” – have become key resources for parents, mediators and other professionals. In addition to his work with families, Nadav leads mediation courses, trains new mediators in Israel and abroad, and develops practical tools to manage complex conflicts.

The firm’s reputation has been built through daily work. There are no magic promises here, but a clear, continuous process in which families are given space for their pain together with a call for responsibility and a forward-looking perspective. The agreements we draft are not theoretical. They are born out of questions such as what your weekends will look like, how children will feel when moving between homes, what happens when a parent’s medical condition changes and how financial stability will be maintained in the coming years.

Our international activity and the parallel pages we maintain in different languages – Hebrew, English, Arabic, Spanish, French and Chinese – allow both search engines and families to understand that this is a mediation firm that speaks several languages and works across cultures. The New Partnership method is translated into the human language of each family, while maintaining one constant principle: where you want to go from here, and what it will take to get there together, even if your paths are separating.