Katie Payne

Senior Associate
  • Experience
  • Other Information

Katie joined Birketts in May 2018, and now works from our London office (having previously been based in Chelmsford). She is a Senior Associate in our Private Client Advisory Team with over ten years’ experience. 

Since qualifying as a Solicitor in September 2012, Katie has had a broad practice comprised of both international and domestic private client work. She frequently advises on UK tax, trusts, Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs).

Katie works with private clients and their advisers, as well as banks, family offices and international trust companies. She has a particular interest in matters with a cross-border or multi-jurisdictional element.  This includes:

  • Advising on domicile, both for those who have left the UK and may have lost their domicile in the UK, and those who may have acquired a domicile in the UK (actual or deemed) following a period of UK residence;
  • Consideration of the application of the Statutory Residence Test, and the tax and other implications of either residence or non-residence in the UK (as applicable);
  • Tax and associated planning for those arriving in or leaving the UK, including planning for property acquisitions or disposals, and working closely with our immigration team;
  • Drafting Wills and advising on succession planning in the context of the EU Succession Regulation and conflicts of laws more generally, including (where applicable) bespoke drafting to ensure compliance of Wills with pre- and post-nuptial agreements;
  • The administration of cross-border estates, working closely with a range of advisers in other jurisdictions. Recent matters have involved testators, assets and beneficiaries located in France, Germany, Portugal, the Channel Islands, Canada, the Middle East and the Caribbean;
  • Provision of affidavits on English succession and administrative law to advisers in other jurisdictions, where required for overseas administrative processes;
  • Drafting trust deeds and ancillary documents, and review of foreign law trust documents from a UK tax perspective; and
  • Advising on the UK tax treatment of offshore trusts with UK resident settlors, beneficiaries or assets, and associated structuring.

Katie also has experience in advising landowners and family business owners on estate planning and administration, including in relation to the terms and administration of complex UK trusts, and associated tax advice.

Katie graduated from the University of Manchester with a First Class degree in History, before studying law at BPP in Manchester and Holborn.

Prior to joining Birketts, Katie trained and then subsequently practiced at a top 40 London law firm.

Katie is a member of The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), having passed the exams with a distinction.

Katie is recommended by Legal 500 [UK 2021].

Awards and Memberships

Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners

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