Needle | Cuda: Divorce and Family Law focuses on matters involving high-net-worth divorce, contested custody, and complex property division.

We serve clients in Greenwich, Darien, Fairfield, New Canaan, Ridgefield, Southport, Westport, and Wilton (CT) and the surrounding communities.

Our practice areas include: divorce, alimony, child custody, child support, restraining orders, same-sex marriage, post judgment modification, relocation, prenuptial agreements, postnuptial agreements, enforcement and contempt actions, divorce appeals

Attorney Melissa Needle founded the firm in 2010.

Melissa is a lifetime Connecticut resident. She was born in New Haven, raised in Fairfield, and now resides in Westport with her family. Attorney Needle is a third-generation attorney with deep family roots in Connecticut. Her father, Attorney Charles Needle, was a founder of the Connecticut firm Zeldes, Needle & Cooper in 1971. Since her admission to the Connecticut Bar in 1990, Melissa has exclusively practiced divorce and family law. The American Institute of Family Law Attorneys named Needle|Cuda: Divorce and Family Law a Connecticut Top 10 Best Firm in Client Satisfaction in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Attorney Needle has been a Super Lawyer Honoree in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

Attorney Needle is well-known in Connecticut courts as a forceful, but fair fighter; and attorney with great integrity; and as a worthy adversary who does not shy away from litigation if that path is the best opportunity for her client to reach an equitable solution. Melissa understands that divorce is not just about the dissolution of marriage or stop-gap solutions but helping clients develop and negotiate a comprehensive plan for the rest of their lives. Melissa and the firm pride themselves on providing their clients "Guidance that Moves their Lives Forward.

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