Kate is a Partner and an experienced solicitor and mediator. She has over 17 years of experience dealing with a broad family law practice.
She has particular expertise in advising on and negotiating financial settlements for individuals going through divorce, often with complex financial circumstances, and advising clients on wealth protection by drafting and advising on pre-nuptial agreements. Clients value Kate’s pragmatic and holistic approach to situations where her focus is always to support her clients and achieve a resolution in the best possible way. Kate also deals with unmarried couples and has an in-depth knowledge in the law surrounding trust of land act claims, cohabitee disputes and issues relating to the arrangements for children. Kate is a recommended Lawyer in the Legal 500.
“Kate Ryan is excellent. She works extremely hard and gives her all to her clients. She gives clear, robust advice that calms nervous clients and cuts through matters that might otherwise spiral into further litigation. She is experienced, and it shows.”
Kate has acted in cases where there have been trusts involved. Most recent cases involved a case where all the land and property were held in family trusts. The proceedings were heavily contested at all stages, which resulted in the trustees from several of the trusts being joined to the matrimonial proceedings. There were complex issues relating to trust law in this case that needed to be addressed so that the parties could determine what was to fall into the marital pot to be available for distribution between them.
Kate represented a HNW individual who previously worked in the US and then moved to Germany. The tax position in this case was complex owing to the cross jurisdictional issues, along with having to instruct a US pension actuary to deal with the sharing of the substantial US pension. There were legal arguments raised in this case relating to post separation accrual of assets which spanned six years. The parties successfully negotiated a settlement out of Court and prior to the Final Hearing proceeding.
Acting for a father in highly emotive and contested children act proceedings spanning several years and multiple applications. There were serious allegations raised by the mother in the case which required a fact-finding hearing. The case also involved cross jurisdictional issues and a leave to remove application as the parties were both Spanish nationals. The conclusion was one that provided the father with shared care of his children and some much-needed stability for moving forward.
Our legal experts are often asked to share their insight on recent developments in certain areas of the law.
If you need legal advice, get in touch with one of our experts. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
