Family Law

• Guardianship
  For over thirty years, our dedicated attorneys and paralegals have been assisting families with the probate of their loved one’s estates, navigating them through the Probate Courts, and assisting them with the settling of the families’ estates. Utilizing the skills and experience of our dedicated probate paralegals allows DTC to provide efficient, quality service to clients at competitive rates. Our services include preparing documents to open the estate, preparing the inventory and annual accountings, tax preparation, and closing the estate. At DTC, we also assist families with the administration, interpretation and termination of trusts. Further, we counsel individuals involved with guardianship and conservatorship matters, and represent clients involved in probate and trust litigation.

Criminal Law

• Criminal Defense
  The NH Bar Association would like to thank attorneys Robert Derosier, Douglas Mansfield, Eric Maher, Chris Hawkins, Elaina Hoeppner, and William Warren from the law firm of Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella, as well as attorneys Richard Samdperil, Joe Welsh, Keri Welch, Catherine Baumann, and Pamela Kozlowski, for taking part in Lawline on Wednesday, April 14. They fielded more than 50 calls from the public on a variety of legal issues, including family law, probate, landlord/tenant, and criminal law. When asked about why she participates in Lawline, Kozlowski said, “I’ve had the pleasure of participating in Lawline six times over the years and each time I walk away feeling like we’ve collectively delivered a valuable service to self-represented stakeholders in New Hampshire and beyond. In a 10-20 minute call you can hear the caller’s voice transforming from anxious to grounded. And the appreciation they express is not only rewarding it is reminder that this service is desperately needed. As a lawyer I am also grateful to Lawline for providing the means to be able to give back in such a meaningful way.”

Business and Corporate Law

• Mergers and Acquisitions
  Since its beginning over 25 years ago, Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella, PLLC has strived to meet the needs of a broad range of New Hampshire businesses. From the small family owned business to the large corporation, we tailor our legal services to the particular demands of each client. For new businesses, we work closely with our clients on the selection and set-up of the business form, whether corporation, limited liability company (LLC), or other entity. For existing businesses, we advise our clients on everyday matters such as drafting and reviewing contracts and leases, labor and employment issues, financing, and all other general business matters. We counsel our clients on operating and governance issues as well as buying and selling businesses, mergers and acquisitions, reorganization, dissolution, succession planning and protecting their claims as creditors in bankruptcy. The Business Practice Group also regularly represents clients businesses’ with trademark and copyright matters, technology development, procurement, licensing, distribution and transfer of software and hardware products and services.
• Business Disputes
  If you would like to be placed on an electronic mailing list for one or more of our free legal newsletters, please click on the following link and provide your name, e-mail address and indicate which of the following publications you are interested in: Municipal Law, Business Law, or Development Law. Please sign me up!
• Intellectual Property
  Cum laude from New England Law | Boston in 2017, where she received a concentration in Intellectual Property. During law school, Briana was the President of the Intellectual Property Law Association, the Business Managing Editor of the

Employment Law

• Employment Litigation
  DTC stands ready to assist your town or city with the business that all municipalities have:  town meetings, zoning, planning and land use decisions, labor and employment issues and tax abatements.  DTC also has expertise in and can assist with tax increment finance districts, cable franchise renewals, municipal fiber networks, cell tower permit approvals and municipal litigation, including code enforcement work and tax abatement appeals for special use properties such as utility easements.

Property Law

• Real Estate Litigation
  DTC’s expertise covers the entire life cycle of non-profits. We assist our clients with incorporation or creation of charitable trusts and corporations, filings and dispute resolution with the IRS, the state Attorney General’s Office of Charitable Trusts and Secretaries of State. Because our firm has attorneys with legal expertise in the full range of areas that non-profit organizations may need while they are in operation, including employment and labor law, real estate law, elder law and estate planning and litigation, DTC can provide services to cover the full range of their legal needs. Tough economic times have caused particular hardships for non-profit groups. We are experienced in providing legal advice to help our non-profit clients weather these times, through strategic re-organization, merger with other entities or dissolution and winding up their affairs.
• Construction Litigation
  Chris is an experienced litigator who represents clients on issues of malpractice and professional liability, professional discipline and licensing, construction claims, municipal law, land use and environmental concerns, products liability, complex commercial and civil issues, data breach, and a variety of other issues. Chris also helps clients negotiate contracts and manage a variety of risks. Chris has litigated cases across the country, including Alaska, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, as well as in the United Kingdom.
• Real Estate Transactions
  The purchase and development of real estate, whether for a commercial or residential subdivision or for the family home, is an intricate process that often includes many difficult legal decisions.  Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella, PLLC provides practical legal advice to our clients on a wide variety of real estate transactions, development projects and associated financing.  We have extensive experience in representing our clients, lenders as well as borrowers, in every facet of a project from purchase and sale negotiation to development, land use approval, environmental issues, financing, and sale to the ultimate consumer.
• Eminent Domain
  NORTH HAMPTON — Residents spoke out Monday night for and against a petition that would have the town take privately-owned land by eminent domain to improve cellular service in North Hampton.
• Easement
• Land Use and Zoning
  The experienced attorneys and paralegals in DTC’s Land Use and Permitting Practice Group recognize that the purchase and permitting of real estate for commercial, industrial, or residential development is a market driven, intricate legal process with a high risk/reward ratio for our clients. We endeavor to provide our clients with practical legal advice grounded in our broad knowledge of all aspects of municipal law, zoning and planning, and the land use boards of our local communities in all parts of New Hampshire. Importantly, we respect the need as much as possible to align and harmonize the permitting strategy with the terms of the business deal for the acquisition of the property. With the extensive experience of our attorneys, in all aspects of land use law and commercial financing and conveyancing, DTC is fully prepared to take a project from conceptual evaluation and due diligence through permitting and financing to the out sale or lease up to end users.  We can also add value to the project by appearing before the appropriate State Agencies and, if necessary, Superior Court and NH Supreme Court to defend a project and maintain a permit.  We enjoy helping our clients and we look forward to the opportunity to discuss your next project with you.

Health Law

• Personal Injury
• Auto Accidents

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  In 1977, Mike Donahue left active duty with the Navy JAG Corps to join Kearns and Colliander on High Street in Exeter at what became Kearns, Colliander & Donahue in 1980.  Two years later, Charlie Tucker, the former Director of the Rockingham Regional Planning Agency, brought his practice from the String Bridge and the Firm became Kearns, Colliander, Donahue & Tucker.  In 1985, Mike and Charlie took the opportunity to open their own Firm with two other Exeter lawyers.  Rob Ciandella joined in 1989 and the members of the Firm acquired their Water Street office building.  The Firm became Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella in 1994 and a period of steady growth ensued.  Beth MacDonald (1999) and John Ratigan (2000) became partners and the breadth and depth of services that mark the statewide presence of the Firm today began to take shape.   Denise Poulos joined the Firm in 2001,  opened the Firm’s Portsmouth office and became a partner in 2002.  The Firm received the ultimate compliment when Bob Donovan, who headed its major competitor, joined the Firm in 2002 to continue his estate planning practice and brought with him his very experienced paralegal support staff.  Over the last nine years, Bob Battles (2005 – deceased 2010), Bob Derosier (2005), Chris Boldt (2007), Sharon Somers (2008), Doug Mansfield (2012) and Kate Miller (2014)  have each become partners, and the Firm has extended its client base throughout New Hampshire and into Massachusetts and Maine.
• Wills
• Trusts
  Donahue, Tucker & Ciandella has provided legal services to non-profit organizations for over twenty-five (25) years, and we consider it a cornerstone of our practice. Our clients include long-standing charitable trusts and foundations, churches, non-profit community and educational groups, a charitable hospital, a large continuing care retirement community (CCRC), the local land trust and many other groups that qualify as tax exempt under Internal Revenue Code, Section 501(c)(3).
• Power of Attorney
  Donahue Tucker & Ciandella, PLLC  provides individuals of all ages with estate planning services. We assist those who are starting out with their families and clients who are looking to pass on their estates to the next generation. We work with clients and their advisors to develop comprehensive estate plans that address the client’s individual needs and may include wills, revocable (or living) trusts, financial powers of attorney, health care powers of attorney, prenuptial (or antenuptial) agreements, special needs trusts, life insurance trusts, charitable remainder trusts and other estate planning documents. With our collective background and experiences, we work with clients and their advisors to preserve clients’ estates through planning to minimize income, gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes to pass more onto children and further descendants.
• Probate

Finance Law

• Bankruptcy
  The attorneys of DTC’s Bankruptcy Practice Group provide proactive advice to commercial and private lenders, landlords, municipalities and other claim holders, both secured and unsecured, in all phases of creditor representation.  We represent creditors in post default/pre-bankruptcy workouts and negotiations.  If a debtor files bankruptcy, we assert claims and defend against preference actions by debtors and trustees trying to claw back payments made to our clients before the bankruptcy filing.  During the bankruptcy case, we seek relief from the Automatic Stay, adequate protection and other remedies to protect our clients’ interests.  We have extensive experience in plan analysis, negotiation, objection litigation, valuation, secured status determination and other aspects of plan confirmation in both Chapters 11 and 13.
• Tax Law