Family man: Attorney Daniel Fox knows family dynamics
Daniel Fox with his daughter during Siemen Family Law Group’s July 4th fundraiser.
Family life, Daniel Fox will tell you, is complicated.
At home, he and his wife are raising three daughters, ages 14, 12 and 8, who attend three different schools and keep the family calendar packed with gymnastics, ballet, swimming and acting. Then there’s the family dog — a Newfoundland weighing in at more than 170 pounds — who “kind of runs our house,” Daniel said, laughing.
“It’s pretty chaotic at times,” he continued. “A lot of times I come to work just to calm down.”
That chaos may be part of what makes Daniel particularly attuned to those who walk through the doors of Siemens Family Law Group. As a family law attorney, he spends his days working with people whose lives are often every bit as complicated as his own — though usually under considerably more stressful circumstances.
And being a father, he said, has changed the way he approaches that work.
When clients are trying to determine parenting schedules, for example, Daniel doesn’t see custody simply as a matter of counting days.
“When you're talking about, ‘Oh, you get this time and you get this time,’ well, being a parent gives you a better perspective as to how that time is actually filled,” he explained. “One party might say, ‘I want every weekend.’ Well, I know what it's like being a parent on the weekend. And I know what it's like being a parent during the week. It's not the same.”
With three children of his own, Daniel has also encountered many of the everyday challenges that can become points of conflict for families — including navigating a child’s dyslexia and changing schools. His wife, a former Buncombe County Schools psychologist who now works in private practice, adds another layer to his perspective when clients’ cases involve learning disabilities or school-related issues.
“It’s one thing to hear, ‘My child has dyslexia,’” he said. “It’s another thing to actually understand what that means because you’ve dealt with it yourself.”
That firsthand experience informs what Daniel sees as one of his most important roles as an attorney: helping clients look at the entire picture, including the parts they may not want to see.
“I want to know the good, bad and the ugly,” he said. “Because I can only help you with what I know about.”
That can sometimes mean telling a client something they don't want to hear, including advising his clients to address problems before bringing them into a courtroom — whether that means taking a parenting class, going to therapy, participating in anger management or making other changes that demonstrate a willingness to address the issue.
“The whole idea is to get you in a position to move forward,” he said. “We’re always growing. We’re always learning. And your children are always going to be worth the added effort.”
It’s not always easy, Daniel added, but sometimes that’s what it means to be a good advocate — to take a step back, recognize problems early and make recommendations that will improve outcomes for the entire family.
Ultimately, what he wants potential clients to know is that they don't have to navigate that uncertainty by themselves.
“I know these people are going through what probably feels like their whole world crashing in and completely upended,” he said. “And part of what I’m here to remind them is: It’s not. We’ll get through this. We’ve gotten through it before and helped people come out the other side. That’s what we’re here for. You don’t have to do it alone.”
With more than 15 years of courtroom experience and advocacy, Daniel understands that navigating new and uncomfortable waters can be very stressful, and he hopes to alleviate much of that stress by shouldering it himself, expertly guiding clients every step of the way. Not only does he help his clients traverse uncharted and unfamiliar territory, but he does so in a way that helps them thrive when faced with adversity.