Catherine Swafford

Practice Areas

Private Wealth Services

Tax

Cross-Border Tax Planning

Tax Controversy and Litigation

Career

Catherine Swafford focuses on trust, estate, conservatorship, elder abuse, and fiduciary litigation. She represents clients in will and trust contests, elder abuse actions, breach of fiduciary duty and accounting cases, conservatorships, intestacy and heirship disputes, contract to make a will disputes, creditor claim disputes, and related litigation and administration matters under the California Probate Code.

Catherine’s practice spans the entire state of California, and she has appeared in numerous probate and civil courts throughout the region. She has developed knowledge in probate disputes involving issues of foreign law and international beneficiaries. Catherine has experience representing clients in cross-border probate matters involving jurisdictions such as Mexico, Switzerland, Russia, China, Hong Kong, British Virgin Islands, and Hungary. She also advises clients with beneficial interests in California who reside in foreign jurisdictions.

Catherine serves as court-appointed counsel for the San Diego Probate Court and is a frequent speaker on various topics related to trust and estate law.

Professional Memberships

Board of Directors, Probate Attorneys of San Diego (PASD); Chair, Education Committee

Past Member of the Board of Directors, Estate Planning Council of San Diego; Past Programs Chair; Past Vice President

Court-Appointed Counsel, San Diego Probate Court

Member, North County Estate Planning Council

Member, Trusts & Estates Section, San Diego County Bar Association

Member, Trusts & Estates Section, California State Bar

Member, La Jolla Bar Association

Member, UCLA Alumni Group of San Diego

Personal

J.D., cum laude, Pepperdine University School of Law, 2005

B.A., cum laude, departmental honors, University of California at Los Angeles, 2002