Harms, Joe G

F. Michael Hanson was raised in Walnut Creek, California. He attended undergraduate studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in History in 1972.

He attended law school at the University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law and graduated in May, 1976. He was a member of the Traynor Society, the scholastic organization at the McGeorge School of Law. He passed the California State Bar exam in July, 1976, and was admitted to the California State Bar in December, 1976 (registered as Frederick Michael Hanson, Jr., State Bar No. 71106). He is also admitted to practice before the Federal District Courts for the Northern and Eastern Districts of the State of California, the Federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

Mr. Hanson worked as an associate for two law firms in Walnut Creek between 1976 and 1987, then established his own practice in May, 1987. Although a considerable amount of his first 11 years of practice involved estate planning, he converted his practice to estate planning alone in 1989 and added elder law, nursing home asset protection, and Medi-Cal eligibility and public benefits planning to his practice beginning in early 1990.

Between 1992 and 2002 Mr. Hanson maintained offices in both Walnut Creek and Fairfield, serving the needs of many estate planning and elder/disabled clients, and their families, in Alameda County, Contra Costa County, Solano County, and Yolo County. He now maintains a single office in Pleasant Hill, California, where his practice continues its focus on protective estate planning, elder law, nursing home asset protection planning, nursing home Medi-Cal eligibility planning, Medi-Cal recovery issues, special needs trusts, traditional living trust estate planning, and trust administration. He has thousands of clients throughout the bay area, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and also Solano and Yolo counties.

Mr. Hanson is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Trusts and Estates Section of the State Bar of California. Over the years he has presented numerous seminars, lectures and instruction in estate planning, nursing home asset protection planning, and Medi-Cal planning in various locations in the Contra Costa, Solano, and Yolo County areas. Mr. Hanson's clients describe him as friendly, easy to talk to, "very knowledgeable, but who describes things in a manner easy to understand", "careful", "thorough", "not your typical lawyer" (whatever that means), "humorous", "funny", "makes you feel comfortable and not intimidated", "worries about his clients", "does not act like a salesman", "does not charge for every little thing".

Although Mr. Hanson endeavors (as set forth in his estate planning documents and in his practice) to assist his clients in avoiding nursing home care, in those circumstances where nursing home care has become a medical necessity, he has managed, over the years, to save his clients' families literally millions of dollars in assets, and has protected client estates from Medi-Cal "liens" and estate claims, unnecessary income taxes, property taxes, and legal expenses in the process.

Mr. Hanson does not sell or endorse the purchase of annuities or long term care insurance (and typically reminds everyone to look very carefully at these products before purchasing them).