Attorney Jefferson Hanna

Jefferson Hanna has practiced law in Middletown for over two decades, building a reputation for tenacious advocacy in tax law, bankruptcy, and personal injury. He knows Connecticut's property assessment process inside and out, and he's helped hundreds of homeowners and small business owners challenge valuations they believed were unfair. His office is a few blocks from Middletown City Hall, which means he's familiar with local assessors and the quirks of Hartford County's revaluation cycles. Hanna's approach is direct. He reviews your assessment data, pulls comparable sales, and tells you quickly whether an appeal is worth pursuing. He won't string you along if the numbers don't support a challenge, but when they do, he's aggressive about getting results. Clients regularly describe him as responsive and refreshingly straightforward about fees and timelines.

Attorney Hanna handles the full range of property tax matters for Connecticut property owners. His core service is formal assessment appeals before local Boards of Assessment Appeals, which must be filed within strict deadlines after revaluation notices go out. He also takes cases to Superior Court when board-level appeals don't produce an adequate reduction. Beyond appeals, he advises clients on exemptions they may be missing, including veterans' exemptions, homestead credits, and exemptions for nonprofits or agricultural land. For commercial and investment property owners, he analyzes income-approach valuations and challenges assessor methodology when it doesn't reflect actual market conditions. Hanna also handles bankruptcy matters that intersect with property tax debt, including situations where back taxes complicate a reorganization or homeowners are facing tax lien foreclosure. His personal injury practice is separate but serves the same community of Middletown-area residents who need a generalist attorney they can trust across different legal challenges.

The process starts with a free initial review of your assessment notice and any available property record card. Hanna's office will compare your assessed value against recent comparable sales in your neighborhood and flag any factual errors in the assessor's records, such as incorrect square footage, wrong number of bathrooms, or land area mistakes. If the data supports an appeal, you'll sign a fee agreement and Hanna will file the appeal with the Board of Assessment Appeals before the February 20 deadline (for most Connecticut municipalities). He'll prepare a formal appraisal or comparable sales analysis, represent you at the hearing, and negotiate directly with the assessor if an informal settlement opportunity arises. For cases that don't resolve at the board level, he'll evaluate whether Superior Court is worth the additional cost given the potential savings. He'll give you an honest assessment of the risk-reward before proceeding.

Attorney Hanna primarily serves property owners in Middletown and throughout Middlesex County. He also takes appeals in Hartford County, including Rocky Hill, Cromwell, Portland, and East Hampton. Commercial property clients from New Haven County occasionally retain him when they need representation with Superior Court experience. He's familiar with assessors and board procedures across central Connecticut.