Attorney Sharon M. Friel is a licensed practicing attorney in the State of Connecticut, and for the past 35 years, Attorney Friel has been providing legal services in the areas of family law and real estate.
Attorney Sharon M. Friel has over 35 years of experience handling all areas of Family Law, including divorce, custody, child support, restraining orders, post judgment modifications and contempt. She primarily focuses her practice to Family Law cases. She is an experienced advocate and a trained arbitrator/mediator. She serves as Special Masters for the Middlesex and Hartford Counties as well as being an approved GAL, representing the interests of children in Family Law matters. Attorney Sharon M. Friel offers a broad range of services from mediation to trial advocacy to help you best accomplish your objectives. She will help you understand the differences in each process and help you find one that best serves your family’s interest.
Attorney Friel is a graduate of Villanova University School of Law – J.D. and was admitted to the bar in Connecticut in 1995 and Pennsylvania in 1984.
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The Law Office of Sharon M. Friel has been helping people endure the process of divorce for over 25 years. Divorce is not only an end but is also a beginning. It is important in the divorce process to focus on the rebuilding of your new life as you work on dissolving your marriage. Attorney Friel will help you navigate through this process and the Courts, while at the same time assisting you in putting a plan together to allow you to rebuild your life.
One of the most important focuses in this process is the focus on your children. Courts can only divorce Husbands and Wives, not Mothers and Fathers. While separating you as adults, it is vital that separation does not extend to you as parents. Rather, you have to work on redefining that relationship to allow you to co-parent with you ex-spouse as you and your children redefine your family.
In almost all cases, rebuilding requires money. It is important that you know and understand what is subject to division and what is not. If you do not know what assets and debt you and your spouse have, you have the right to conduct discovery to assure that all the proper assets and debts are included. Attorney Friel is there to help you understand what your rights are with respect to the division of your assets and your debt and to address issues of child support and the need for an ongoing income stream for you when appropriate.
Attorney Sharon M. Friel offers a broad range of services from mediation to trial advocacy to help you best accomplish your objectives. She will help you understand the differences in each process and help you find one that best serves your family’s interest. In addition, Attorney Friel has also had the privilege of representing children in the divorce process through her services as a Guardian Ad Litem for children. Attorney Friel also brings the perspectives of the children into this process to help parents rebuild their families and successfully co-parent.
Attorney Sharon M. Friel has over 25 years of experience helping men and women throughout Hartford, New London, Middletown, Tolland and New Britain Counties who face divorce or family law challenges. Attorney Friel will help you understand the legal process as well as your rights regarding all phases of divorce including the most important issues regarding your children.
Her office is conveniently located at 78 Beaver Rd, Suite 2G, Wethersfield, CT 06109. She offers free initial one hour consultations so that you can feel comfortable and confident that she is the right lawyer for you. You can call her at to make an appointment or if you prefer you can email her at .
If you are considering filing for divorce or are already a party to a divorce proceeding, you will want an experienced lawyer to help you through the process, one who understands how difficult this process can be and one who will help you identify and implement solutions that protect you and your children, as your marriage ends.
Attorney Sharon M. Friel has over 25 years of experience representing men and women in Divorce Matters. Attorney Friel understands that divorce is a difficult process and that you will have many concerns as you go through this process. Atty. Friel focuses on helping you understand the legal process as well as your rights regarding all phases of your divorce including property issues, money issues and most importantly issues regarding your children.
In the State of Connecticut there are laws that help guide divorcing parties in determining what should be divided and how to divide the assets and debts you accumulated throughout your marriage. Not every case is the same and each case deserves individual attention to the specific needs and concerns that apply to you and your economic needs or wants as you work on rebuilding your life after divorce.
If you are a parent facing divorce or if you are a parent separating from your child’s parent, chances are your first concern is for your children. Will they be alright, how will this affect them, will they have to change schools. These and the myriad of other concerns facing you as a separating parent are concerns that deserved to be addressed in the custody/divorce process.
The first thing to remember in this process is that the Divorce/Custody process does not divorce Mothers and Fathers. This is a role that is yours for the life of your child as long as you choose to honor it. In any Custody dispute, the most important focus is how you as parents can redefine your roles so that your children can be assured that their family is still there for them.
There are a number of ways parents can address these concerns and reach amicable resolutions of the issues they face in addressing the day to day responsibilities of co-parenting once they no longer reside in the same home. Courts are often not the best avenue for these resolutions and should only be utilized if that is the best way to achieve what is best for the children.
Once you and your spouse or your child’s co-parent have separated, it is only natural to be concerned about how you are going to meet all the expenses associated with raising your children. In Connecticut, Child Support is determined in accordance with the Child Support Guidelines adopted by the State of Connecticut. These guidelines address child support by focusing on the parents’ income rather than their expenses. In addition to a weekly support calculation, the guidelines also help you determine how much should be paid for work related day care expenses as well as out of pocket medical/dental expenses for your children. The guidelines help parents determine a fair sharing of these responsibilities.
In addition to these basic child support expenses, you can also address costs and concerns associated with other expenses in your child’s life including activities, private education, religious training and ultimately college education expenses.
Attorney Sharon M. Friel has over 25 years of experience helping men and women throughout Hartford, New London, Middletown, Tolland and New Britain Counties determine a fair responsibility of the costs and expenses associated with raising their children. Attorney Friel will help you understand the legal process as well as your rights regarding all phases of the child support process.
Her office is conveniently located at 78 Beaver Rd, Suite 2G, Wethersfield, CT 06109. She offers free initial one hour consultations so that you can feel comfortable and confident that she is the right lawyer for you. You can call her at to make an appointment or if you prefer you can email her at .
It is not unusual for circumstances to change after you finalize your divorce or custody matter. Certain provisions of your order can be modified upon a showing that a change in circumstances has occurred. This can apply to child support, alimony and custody arrangements. Children grow and with that growth comes change that may necessitate a different arrangement to better suit their needs and to address what is in their best interests. In these instances, orders can and often should be modified. Attorney Friel can work with you to determine if your orders can be modified and if so, how they should be modified and what to expect if you choose to seek a modification.
It is also possible that orders are either ignored or not complied with. In these instances, you have the right to take a contempt action against the party who is not obeying the Court’s order. There are very few reasons that a court will accept as a legitimate reason as to why a person cannot follow a court order. If the court finds that a party has violated a court order, remedies can be imposed including monetary sanctions for monies not paid.
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A divorce attorney in Connecticut gets involved in the resolution of issues which arise between couples who's marriage has broken down irretrievably.
The key difference between legal separation and divorce is that when you are separated, you are still legally married to your spouse even though you are living separately. A legal separation is similar in some ways to divorce, in that there are still negotiations both parties can explore. Legal separation can be a good option if a couple is unsure they want a divorce or they choose not to divorce for financial or religious reasons. Divorce is the option where you are not legally married anymore.
Yes, Attorney Friel offers a free initial one-hour consultation so that you can feel comfortable and confident that she is the right family law attorney for you.
"Divorce and custody issues are so overwhelming. Sharon Friel gives great compassion and discernment to advocate for the best outcome, even when there is great difficulty and little cooperation from the other side. I feel she helped minimize litigious arguments that only drain your bank account. I appreciate having more of our monies left over for fresh starts. We were in good hands with Sharon."
"Sharon handled my divorce in 2016. It was a scary time, but she and her assistant were both wonderful."
"I have found Sharon to be very professional and easy to work with. Everything I have asked for she has done and more. She is friendly, efficient and knows what to do in an already hard time. We have frequent contact to go over any changes to my case and she never forgets to take a moment to make sure you are doing okay personally. I would highly recommend Sharon and her team."
"Excellent lawyer. Highly recommend. She handled my case beginning to end with no switching of lawyers. She is knowledgeable and compassionate."
"Attorney Friel goes above and beyond to get the best results for her clients. Highly knowledgeable in many areas of law."