Your well-being is our priority, particularly during the most difficult moments.
It is perhaps no surprise that, alongside moving house, the death of a loved one, major illness or loss of a job, divorce is one of the biggest life stressors. A divorce is a decision that carries huge practical and financial implications, as well as the emotional turmoil of coming to terms with a future that is not going to be, whether your choice or not, what you had planned.
The legal and practical aspects can be complex, all-consuming, and confusing, and you are often asked to make big decisions about your future at a time when you are navigating your emotions and the emotions of others impacted by the ending of the relationship.
It’s Essential to Allow Time for Your Feelings to Settle.
As with any major and life-altering event, it is essential, where possible, to allow time for your feelings to settle; decisions made at the height of high emotions can be tricky, and it may be beneficial to seek support from others. Fear of the unknown is common and can be paralysing, but there are reassuring ways to navigate the process and make the best decisions for your family.
We sometimes hear people feel they have no time or it is somewhat indulgent to look after their emotional well-being. Particularly when you are amid practical and sometimes urgent decisions whilst supporting others in the family, such as children who you will be trying to protect from any negative impact. However, in our experience, prioritising your own mental and physical well-being and health can often mean you are more confident in your decisions and stronger in supporting others, akin to the aeroplane message of “put your own mask on before others”.
Successful well-being methods vary depending on the individual. Some people will benefit from professional counselling or divorce coaches, some from mindfulness or meditation, and others reconnect with friends or personal hobbies. However you care for your well-being, the significance of it cannot be overstated.
Choosing the Right Legal Professional to Work With is Also Very Important.
At Purcell, all of our solicitors are members of Resolution: a family organisation committed to resolving matters on divorce as amicably as possible. We adopt a constructive person-centred approach and strive to minimise the animosity that can arise when undertaking negotiations as to the division of your assets, financial settlements or arrangements for your children.
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Director – SRA number: 494434
Lisa Buckridge is a Director at Purcell Solicitors and has over 20 years of experience in family law. She qualified in the early 2000s and became a director of the firm in October 2015. She holds accreditation as a Family Mediation Council-accredited Mediator, obtained in 2022, and is one of a small number of lawyer-mediators qualified to carry out Child Inclusive Mediation. She is also a trained collaborative lawyer and hybrid mediator.
Lisa handles the full range of family law matters, including divorce, financial settlements, children proceedings, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, and cohabitation disputes. Her referrals come principally from solicitors, including London-based practices, the local judiciary, and former clients, a pattern that reflects her standing in the field. She has worked on cases involving a terminal health diagnosis and cases in which the opposing party was a specialist family law barrister.
Chambers and Partners ranks Lisa in Band 3 for Family/Matrimonial in the Thames Valley in the UK Guide 2026. She has also been spotlighted specifically for her mediation practice in the Family/Matrimonial Mediators: Thames Valley category. Chambers describes her as “an excellent solicitor who robustly and effectively represents her clients’ interests” and as “incredibly clever” with the ability to “construct cases perfectly”.
Her reported cases include Re R (a child) EWCA Civ 35, in which the Court of Appeal held that a judge had erred by failing to properly evaluate a child’s wishes or to hear evidence from a CAFCASS officer before departing from that officer’s recommendation. She also acted in Scotching and Birch EWHC 844 (Ch), a case concerning burial arrangements and letters of administration following the death of a child; the case has since been cited in several academic papers and journal articles.
Lisa is a member of Resolution and is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA number: 494434). She can be contacted at lisa@purcellsolicitors.co.uk.