Practice Overview

Janice Fox is an experienced trusts and estates lawyer who consults with individuals about their family wealth and succession planning and advises about gift and estate tax matters, including charitable giving.  She brings sensitivity to the personal and family issues involved. Her skills as a clear communicator help make complicated estate planning concepts and tax strategies understandable to her clients.

Ms. Fox works with clients on strategies to transfer family wealth to children and grandchildren, including transfers to irrevocable trusts and formation of family limited partnerships and limited liability companies to hold and manage real properties and facilitate family succession planning. Often, such planning is done in cooperation with the clients’ accountants, financial advisers and insurance professionals. Charitable gifts are a key element of many estate plans, and Ms. Fox has assisted clients in establishing charitable trusts and private foundations. 

Ms. Fox also guides executors and trustees through the complexities of post-death probate or trust administration.  Issues may include assets in several states and countries; hard-to-value assets such as closely held companies; uncooperative, hostile or missing beneficiaries; or unclear provisions of a will or trust. Administering a complex estate often involves working with the client, accountants and appraisers in the preparation of federal estate tax returns. The firm represents trustees and beneficiaries in trust and estate litigation matters, and Ms. Fox advises on such matters, often together with one of the firm’s litigation attorneys.

Professional Activities

In addition to her law practice, Ms. Fox, like many other firm attorneys, is active in the community. Ms. Fox currently is a member of the San Jose Public Library Foundation Board and the Board of Directors of Notre Dame High School. She previously served on the boards of the EMQ Children and Family Services Foundation, the San Jose Museum of Art, and the YWCA of Santa Clara Valley.  Ms. Fox was named a 2007 “Northern California Super Lawyer,” as chosen by her peers and through the independent research of Law & Politics and San Francisco Magazine.