Katherine L. Ratcliffe

About Katherine

Katherine L. Ratcliffe is a partner who advises high-net-worth individuals, families and business owners on sophisticated, tax-efficient estate and succession plans. Her practice focuses on complex estate planning, trust and corporate structuring, business succession and post-mortem tax planning, and she regularly prepares customized estate planning documents for clients with property in Alberta and British Columbia. She creates, reorganizes and maintains family trust and corporate structures, and works closely with accountants and financial advisors to deliver coordinated planning solutions. Her recent work includes structuring long-term testamentary trusts for shared family wealth, preparing powers of attorney and personal directives alongside new wills, implementing an estate freeze with a new family trust and shareholders' agreement for a multi-generational business, and reorganizing private corporation shares after death to reduce the tax burden on beneficiaries. She also facilitates annual family governance meetings to review trust administration and estate planning with clients and their families.

Practice areas

Wills, Estates & Trusts Tax Law

Education & credentials

Law school

University of Victoria