About Hansen & Pereira
Hansen & Pereira is a full-service fiduciary firm located in the heart of historic Old Town, Eureka, a stone’s throw from Humboldt Bay, along the rugged redwood coast of far northern California. The firm is owned and managed by professional fiduciaries
Lisa K. Hansen, CLPF, NCG, and Matthew A. Pereira, CLPF, NCG.
Hansen & Pereira offers a spectrum of traditional fiduciary services. We serve as court-appointed or privately named trustees under a trust, executors or administrators under a will, agents for finance under a durable power of attorney, and agents for health care under an advance health care directive. Please see our Services page for a more detailed description of our services.
We take tremendous pride in the fiduciary, or “position of trust” role we fill for our clients and often their families, and provide our services with the utmost of professionalism, integrity, loyalty, and confidentiality. We are members of the Professional Fiduciary Association of California (PFAC) and the National Guardianship Association, and as such must adhere to the more stringent continuing professional educational requirements and codes of ethics of these associations. Please visit the PFAC website to learn more about the role of a professional fiduciary.
As with doctors, CPA’s, and engineers, to name a few, professional fiduciaries are licensed and regulated by the California Department of Consumer Affairs, specifically the Professional Fiduciaries Bureau (PFB). Licensed fiduciaries must report details on caseload changes, business practices, and personal financial and legal changes to the PFB on an annual basis. Please visit the Professional Fiduciaries Bureau website which contains information useful for people seeking fiduciary services.
Firm History
Hansen & Pereira began in 2008 as “Lisa K. Hansen, Eldercare Financial Services”. Lisa, a fifth-generation Humboldt County native from a long line of local professionals and entrepreneurs, was motivated to jump ship from the corporate world in order to launch the business after a personal experience involving her grandparents opened her eyes to the financial vulnerability of the elderly demographic of our population. Lisa has an educational and professional background in accounting, tax, business, and risk management. Shortly after starting the eldercare financial services business, Lisa met with a group of supportive local fiduciaries who encouraged her to consider becoming a fiduciary. Although Lisa had previously met the requirements to sit for the CPA exam and thereby become a fiduciary for financial matters, after much consideration, she chose instead to pursue the state’s then new professional fiduciary licensing in order to have access to a wider spectrum of professional mentors and continuing professional education programs in both financial and health care fiduciary matters.
Although not a requirement for fiduciary licensing, in 2009 Lisa completed the California State University, Fullerton post-baccalaureate fiduciary management certificate programs for both trustees and conservators, and shortly thereafter passed the state and national licensing exams to become a California Licensed Professional Fiduciary and National Certified Guardian. After becoming licensed, Lisa went to work part-time for a local accounting firm as a fiduciary accountant and fiduciary tax return preparer, while also operating her fiduciary business from home part-time. In 2011, due to her growing fiduciary case load, Lisa left the employment of the accounting firm to focus full-time on her own business, moving the business from the home office to a commercial office space in Eureka.
In 2011, Lisa’s husband, Matthew A. Pereira, a Bay Area native, HSU Business Department alum, and former investment adviser-turned-corporate financial analyst, motivated by Lisa’s passion for her profession, decided to enroll in the introductory fiduciary management course at CSUF for a formal taste of the fiduciary profession. Matt was immediately intrigued by the course and both Lisa and Matt recognized the value that Matt’s education and professional expertise could bring to the business. In 2012, after also completing both CSUF fiduciary management certification programs for trustees and conservators, Matt joined the business as a “fiduciary intern”. He became licensed as a California Licensed Professional Fiduciary and National Certified Guardian in 2013, and officially joined the firm as a partner shortly thereafter to become (much to his surprise) a third-generation entrepreneur. And in case you’re wondering how to pronounce Matt’s last name, you’re not alone—it’s “Per-AIR-ah”.
Lisa and Matt live in nearby Bayside, have two children now in college, and a small barnyard of largely rescued four-legged dependents. When not at the office, Lisa can be found in the barn working with the animals or wielding a power tool of some sort. Matt can be spotted with his nose in the latest gourmet cookbook, in the kitchen seasoning his cast iron skillet collection, or out in the garden. Please see Lisa and Matts’ respective Curriculum Vitae for more information.
The Team
In addition to Lisa and Matt, our expanding team includes:
Ellie, Fiduciary Health Care Coordinator & Advocate, is a 2016 graduate of Arcata High School and a 2020 graduate of Cal Poly Humboldt with a degree in Kinesiology Exercise Science. Ellie is an EMT, a California State Parks Lifeguard, and an All-American track and field athlete. Ellie has little free time between her work for H&P, her job keeping all of us safe at our state parks, and her role as coach for youth swimming and high school track and field, but in her spare time she can be found in the weight room, on the roads and trails training for marathons, or doing most anything outdoor-related in beautiful Humboldt County with her rescue dog, also named “Ellie”.
Hannah, Fiduciary Accountant & Assistant, is a 2019 graduate of Arcata High and a 2024 graduate of Cal Poly Humboldt with a degree in Environmental Science & Management, emphasis in Planning & Policy, and minors in Native American Studies and Water Resource Policy. Hannah went on to complete a Master’s in Business Administration at Humboldt in 2025. After spending two seasons rowing on the Cal Poly Humboldt women’s crew team, Hannah has returned to her high school passion of volleyball, spending the falls coaching and referring junior high volleyball, and playing in a year-round adult volleyball league. In her free time, she can be found experimenting with culinary creations in the kitchen, paddling a stand-up paddle board or kayak on a local lagoon, or exploring the backroads and trails of Humboldt with her rescue dogs, Baxter & Lucie.
Jared occupies our Administrative Support position. Jared is a 2024 graduate of Arcata High and is currently an undergraduate at Cal Poly Humboldt, majoring in Political Science, and double-minoring in Economics and Philosophy. Jared spent two seasons rowing for the Cal Poly men’s crew team but recently pivoted to training for triathlons. In his spare time, when he’s not tracking the stock market, he can be found cultivating his green thumb in the garden or tending to his flock of Swedish Flower chickens.