Katherine Wainman

Katherine Wainman specialises in planning for individuals during lifetime and administering deceased estates, particularly where there is an international dimension.

She works on the specific issues that arise where a will, a lasting power of attorney, or a deceased’s estate touches more than one country: assets held abroad, a non-UK domiciled testator or spouse, questions of applicable law and conflicts of law, residence, and the relief available where the same asset risks being taxed twice. She also advises on the continuing impact of the EU Succession Regulation for clients with connections to Europe.

Katherine also advises landed estates, entrepreneurial families and trustees of often long-running and intricate trust structures on asset protection and succession planning generally.  From passing on a family business or farm in a tax-efficient way, to untangling the complexities of a trust, or an estate that reaches beyond the UK.

She trained and qualified as a solicitor in 2006 and then spent the following fourteen years with a well-regarded regional boutique practice where much of her work centred on the particular pressures facing farming and agricultural businesses: how to protect what’s been built, and how to pass it on to the next generation without unnecessary tax cost or family friction.

She advises on restructuring for succession or simplification, on the inheritance tax and capital gains tax reliefs available to landed and agricultural clients in particular, and on the wills and lasting powers of attorney that sit alongside this planning.

Katherine moved to a large firm in 2021 to grow their private client team in Leeds, was promoted to partner in May 2024, and in January 2025 was appointed Regional Lead Partner for Yorkshire and the Humber.

Chambers and Partners 2026 – Private Wealth Law – Leeds, Bradford and Surrounds – Band 3

Spear’s 2025 Tax Lawyers Index – Recommended Tax Lawyer

Katherine Wainman is a partner in Hestia Private Client, part of Excello Law’s House of Brands.