Parnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices

Our firm blends advocacy oriented practice with effective practical solutions for all our clients in Londonderry, N. Woodstock, and throughout New Hampshire. The attorneys at Parnell, Michels & McKay provide effective representation and counseling to assist our clients facing legal questions. We simplify the process so our clients can understand and are able to participate as partners in the resolution.

Our practice includes personal injury law such as motor vehicle accidents, falls, dog bites, workers compensation, social security disability, and other injuries.

We also practice family law, including divorce, post-divorce, unwed custody and property division, and collaborative divorce, and have extensive experience in bankruptcy, probate, boundary disputes, estate planning, corporate formation and other real estate litigation.

Business Formation Law
What Are Charging Orders and How Do They Affect My Limited Liability Company?
ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices October 21, 2018September 16, 2025
Congratulations! You are opening your first business and you have decided to form a single-member limited liability company (LLC). The LLC provides similar liability protection as that of a corporation. For example, if there is a judgment against the LLC for money damages, in most cases, the LLC judgment creditor cannot attach your personal assets. However, what if one of your personal creditors has a judgment against you? If you had incorporated, the judgment creditor may be able to reach your shares in the company as they are personal assets. But can the creditor reach the assets of your single-member LLC? This is where the charging order comes in. A creditor may ask the court to enter a charging order requiring the company to forward…
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Workers Compensation Law
Workers’ Compensation: What Am I entitled To?
ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices October 12, 2018September 16, 2025
A person that gets injured at work is often unaware of the process involved in workers’ compensation cases, and even more unaware of what they are entitled to. In the first instance, the most important thing is getting medical treatment for the injury they sustained. If the injury occurred within the scope of employment, the workers’ compensation insurer is required to pay for all related medical bills. So, if a person hurts themselves badly at work and has to go to the emergency room, then the workers’ compensation insurer will have to pay for it. In order to have them pay in the first instance, the employer and employee complete the first report of injury. This specifies what happened, where it happened, and how it…
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Estate Planning | Probate Law
October 20-26, 2018 Is National Estate Planning Awareness Week
ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices October 1, 2018September 16, 2025
Congress has designated the third week in October as National Estate Planning Awareness Week (October 20-26, 2018).It is estimated that at least 60% of Americans do not have an estate plan. Most people think that only older adults need to have an estate plan. However, it’s important for younger people to have a Will, especially if they have minor children. A proper estate plan will provide for a guardian for your minor children to ensure that they’ll be cared for by the people you want as guardians in the event of your death or incapacity. Yet, based on a recent AARP survey, 78% of people age 18-36 and 64% of people age 37-52 do not have a will.Without an estate plan such as a Will…
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Personal Injury Law
Self-Drivings Cars and The Intersection of Human Negligence and Products Liability
ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices August 15, 2018September 16, 2025
Self-Driving cars are now becoming more and more popular. Other states, like California, are now allowing them to be operated on their roads in controlled settings. For many of us, this will remind us of movies involving cars that drive themselves while the human in the car is able to relax on their drive. It’s almost like a taxi, but it’s the person’s car and a computer program is driving. Technology is always a fascinating thing, but in this context, what happens when self-driving cars cause an accident?As many people are aware, if you cause an accident and are liable, an insurance claim and possible litigation may be brought against you. This would require the person that was hit and injured to prove that the…
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General News
Fantasy Sports: Legal or Illegal Sports Gambling
ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices August 1, 2018September 16, 2025
Fantasy Football is gearing up, and we are on the eve of many drafts and leagues forming for the new season. As attorneys, we often get asked about the legality of sports gambling and in particular, fantasy sports. As some of you are aware, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a gambling ban from 1992 called the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. Thus, sports gambling is no longer illegal under federal law. However, each state can have laws that restrict or forbids gambling within their state borders. As for fantasy sports, that has been dealt with separately.As of May 16 of this year, fourteen (14) states have specifically allowed fantasy sports, and daily fantasy sports to exist (SEE: https://www.espn.com/sports-betting/story/_/id/14799449/daily-fantasy-dfs-legal-your-state-state-state-look). New Hampshire is one of…
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General Litigation | General News
Why I Check the Box to Donate to Pro Bono
ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices July 15, 2018September 16, 2025
This past year I have begun a new adventure as something I never thought I would be: a father. As I listen to my now one-year-old daughter stumble through words like “What’s that!?” and “Mama” and “Dada”, I think a lot about her future and my own. I feel responsible for who she becomes and worry constantly about her. I certainly worry too much, but I care a lot about the world she grows up in, and the lessons I teach her as she grows. It’s important to me that my child is someone who helps others. I was raised that way by my parents, and I pray I can do the same for her. As one of my favorite quotes from Abraham Lincoln (and…
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Family Law
Adoption A Personal Perspective
ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices July 1, 2018September 16, 2025
Adoption is about what is best for the child not what is best for the parents. As the law states, a child’s needs should come first, or better put, the best interests of the child should come first. The best situation for a child is sometimes to be adopted into a stable home. Financial security and the love of caring parents are both important to a child’s development. The time spent raising a child affects how the child behaves, feels, and ultimately interacts with the world as the person they become. Many factors play into the decision of what is best for the child. It can be hard for birth-parents to give up their child, but adoption can sometimes be in the best interest of…
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Workers Compensation Law
Civic Duty: Testifying In Front of The New Hampshire State Congress
ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices May 10, 2018September 16, 2025
Recently, there has been a significant debate in the New Hampshire house legislature about a rather mundane bill to most people. For the past year or so, Attorney Rory Parnell has attended multiple hearings and spoken to many legislators in New Hampshire in support of a direct deposit bill in workers’ compensation cases.The bill itself is very straight forward. If an injured employee is out for six weeks or more, the employee can elect to receive their indemnity benefits (a weekly wage check) via direct deposit. The current rule allows for insurers to mail the wage checks each week the worker is out due to a work injury. Unfortunately, the mail is unreliable due to issues with mail carriers, holidays, and delays by the workers’…
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Personal Injury Law
The Other Guy Did Not Get A Ticket. How Can I Recover for My Injury?
ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices January 20, 2018September 16, 2025
It is a common and understandable misconception that someone injured in a car accident cannot successfully bring a claim unless the person they are considering going after was issued a traffic ticket as a result of the accident. While a ticket can help with the liability argument, it really is not necessary to proving a case. To understand why it is necessary to understand the difference between what is necessary to prove a crime and what is necessary to prove a civil wrong. The key here is what we call the “Burden of Persuasion”.Simply put, the burden of persuasion is the level of certainty the proponent must establish to the trier of fact that the proponent’s assertions are correct. In criminal cases, the burden of…
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Collaborative Law | Family Law
Considering Premarital Cohabitation In An Equitable Division of Property
ByParnell, Michels & McKay Law Offices January 15, 2018September 16, 2025
In August of 2016, the New Hampshire Supreme Court issued a decision In the Matter of Munson and Beal which gives the Court the clear ability to consider the parties’ premarital cohabitation in the determination of an equitable division of marital property.Every discussion about the division of marital property begins with what is marital property. Many clients come into our office with the belief that assets titled to that party individually or assets that the party brought into the marriage are not marital assets. This is wrong. In New Hampshire, RSA 458:16-defines marital property as all assets titled to either party individually or to the parties jointly. This means that all assets are marital assets, no matter how they are titled. The statute also requires…
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