Biography

Related services
Memberships
The Law Society
CLA
Heritage Group of Professional Advisers
PAIAM - Professional Advisors to the International Art Market
Catherine Hill
Partner, Head of Art and Cultural PropertyCatherine has been advising individuals and their families on estate planning matters for more than 25 years. She has extensive experience in managing complex estates, both in the UK and abroad, and particular strength in devising holding structures for family wealth including companies, partnership and trusts.
She works closely with the Corporate and Family teams at Forsters to deliver strategic advice on asset structuring, succession and taxation from both the personal and commercial point of view. She has particular expertise in establishing family investment companies and an interest in all aspects of philanthropy. Within the practice, she focusses on building the firm’s client base of UK domiciled and resident clients.
In addition to her mix of clients with businesses and private wealth, she acts for a number of significant landed estates and for living artists and those investing in art so that she has an in-depth knowledge of agricultural and heritage property taxation in addition to the more corporate-focussed tax legislation, such as business property relief and entrepreneur’s relief.
Catherine is fluent in French and qualified as a Solicitor in in 1996 at Withers, where she was also a Partner. She joined Forsters as a Partner in 2008.
Catherine has been recommended in a variety of leading directories including Super Lawyers, The Legal 500 and the Citywealth Leaders List. She is recognised as a 'Top Recommended Lawyer' in the Spear's 500 2022 directory.
The Entrepreneur's Exit - Avoiding the Legal Pitfalls
The post-COVID bounce back in M&A deals has led a lot of entrepreneurs to consider selling their businesses. Business owners are aware that today’s extremely healthy M&A market will not continue indefinitely and that the window of opportunity will soon begin to close.
The Life Cycle of Family Wealth
From growing a business to starting a family or handing over control of that business to the next generation, every individual has their own goals to aspire to. Our Private Wealth lawyers advise our clients throughout this family life cycle, providing the legal advice required for specific transactions such as purchasing a home or selling a business, whilst also advising on the long-term opportunities for succession and estate planning.
Art in the time of Coronavirus: HMRC relaxes the public access requirements for Conditional Exemption
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has temporarily relaxed the public access requirement for Conditional Exemption, and urged the owners of heritage property to follow the restrictions now imposed by the UK government on business operation and public movement due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Awards and recognitions
My articles and links
"Catherine Hill is a very impressive lawyer. She is technically brilliant, very commercial and good at coming up with solutions." Chambers HNW Guide, 2021
“Exceptionally brilliant” Legal 500 UK, 2019