John C. Martin, Esq., Principal

John C. Martin provides counsel in estate planning, trust, probate, business succession, charitable gifting, and estate and trust litigation matters. John resides in Redwood City, California with his wife and two children.

Education and Honors
John holds a bachelor of arts degree from UCLA, where he graduated magna cum laude in 2005. In 2008, he earned his juris doctor from Boston College Law School. He also holds a French “diplôme du programme international” from L’Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, France (Sciences Po).

Representative Cases
John has assisted a broad range of clients, both on the planning side and during post-death administration. Counsel has included filing estate and gift tax returns to claim discounts in valuation, formation of family business entities, establishment of charitable trusts and foundations, intra-family loans, and assisting estate trustees and executors through IRS tax audit. He has advised families with disabled children on the establishment of special needs trusts, both through court procedure and through inter-vivos gifting to third party trusts. John has also advised clients on general estate planning and tax issues, including California property tax matters and appeals, guardianship for minor children, conservatorships for the disabled, federal capital gains tax, modification of irrevocable trusts, and retroactive trust funding by court petition to avoid probate at death.

Litigated matters have included contested conservatorships, elder abuse matters, petitions for entitlement to estate distribution, and petitions for breach of trust.

Memberships and Interests
John’s interests include music, sports, and foreign travel and culture. He speaks French fluently, and speaks a bit of Portuguese, Spanish and Italian.

John currently serves as scholarship chair at the Kiwanis Club of Menlo Park, where he helps with development and selecting students for scholarship assistance. In 2010, John co-founded the alumni chorus (“Ragazzi Continuo”) of the Ragazzi Chorus. John has served as President of the Menlo Park Kiwanis Foundation, and previously served on the board of directors for the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce and the Ragazzi Chorus.

Awards and Publications
Certified as a Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate Law by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization (2014)

State Bar of California Wiley W. Manuel Award for pro bono legal work (2010)

Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition awarded by Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo (2010)

Boston College Peter A. Donovan Award for excellence in oral advocacy (shared, 2008)

“Best Advocate” at the European Law Moot Court Competition, second largest moot court competition in the world (2008).

Executive editor of the Boston College International and Comparative Law Review (2007-2008)

Law review note: John C. Martin, Bringing Dead Capital to Life: 31 B.C. Int’l & Comp. L. Rev. 121 (2008), available at http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/iclr/vol31/iss1/6

Private letter ruling (PLR 201551008, 2015), available at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/201551008.pdf