Overview

Catherine Watson Coles is an Office Lead Partner in our Halifax office and leader of the firm’s regional Estates and Trusts Service Group. She brings extensive experience and knowledge in trusts and estate planning and administration, from simple wills and trusts to complex international structures.

Catherine has worked with everyone from individuals to large corporate clients to ensure that their families are protected and their objectives are met in the most efficient and tax effective manner. She has a particular interest in and knowledge of the area of families planning for disabled beneficiaries and frequently acts as trustee as part of McInnes Cooper’s executor and trustee service offering. She also works with families to assist and advise them through areas of discord after the death of a loved one.

Catherine is a regular speaker on the subjects of estates, trusts and tax planning to various professional and public organizations across Canada and abroad. She is a frequent author of articles on these subjects in various newspapers and newsletters. She has also been an instructor at the Bar Admissions Course in the area of estate planning and lectures on the topics of estate planning, trust and tax issues in various forums.

Catherine is the past President and Chair of the Access to Justice and Law Reform Institute of Nova Scotia, a member of McInnes Cooper’s Board of Directors. She is the past President and a current member of the Halifax Estate Planning Council and is a member of the Society of Trust and Estates Practitioners, the Canadian Bar Association, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, the Canadian Tax Foundation and the International Bar Association. Catherine is also a past member of the Steering Committee of the Senior Estates and Trust Practitioners Forum and past Senior Co-Chair of the International Bar Association’s Private Client Tax Committee. She has previously served as Chair of the Editorial Board of STEP Inside, the national publication of the Society of Trust and Estates Practitioners. She was formerly Chair of the Wills & Estates Section of the Canadian Bar Association – Nova Scotia and is the Co-Founder and past Chair of the Pride Business Network in Toronto, Ontario.

Practice Areas

• Banking/Finance
• Estates & Trusts
• Taxation Law

Bar Information

Called to the bar: 1995 (ON); 2002 (NS)