Catherine McAleavey

Practice Areas

Catherine is a trusts and succession planning lawyer with extensive expertise advising wealthy individuals and families, executors, trustees and high-profile entrepreneurs. Her clients value both her technical expertise and sensitivity of approach.

A highly regarded private client lawyer with decades of experience, Catherine advises mainly UK-based clients on the full range of private client matters including inheritance tax and estate planning, wills, lasting powers of attorney, trust drafting and restructuring, and the administration of estates.

Catherine has considerable experience in advising the trustees of landed estates and those with inherited wealth. She has particular expertise in restructuring trusts and inheritance tax planning focussing on business property relief involving partnerships. She is also highly regarded for her advice on cross-border succession law.

Acknowledged for her wealth of expertise, Catherine often advises executors of high value, complex estates, particularly those with unusual assets - such as works of art, intellectual property interests, business assets and heritage property.

Catherine takes great care to acquire a full understanding of her clients’ needs and circumstances, often building long-lasting relationships. Prized as a trusted and supportive adviser, clients value her pragmatic and quietly understated approach, her technical expertise and meticulous attention to detail. They also appreciate the thoughtful, sensitive and astute manner in which Catherine responds to their particular - and often complex - circumstances and her clarity of communication. Catherine’s clients often benefit from her many valuable connections with experts in a broad range of related sectors, both in the UK and abroad.

Career

Catherine qualified as a solicitor in 1985.

Professional Memberships

Catherine is a member of the committee of STEP's Cross-Border Estates SIG.