Kate Salter

Kate is an Senior Associate in the Dispute Resolution team with a wide range of litigation experience, and with particular expertise in Wills, Trusts and Inheritance Disputes.

Kate trained at Kingsley Napley, having had previous careers in the motor and property industries. Kate joined the Dispute Resolution team in 2014 and specialises in Wills, Trusts and Inheritance Disputes.

Kate regularly acts for individuals in bringing and defending claims against estates, including claims for lack of capacity, want of knowledge and approval and undue influence. She also has broad experience in fraud and forgery claims and professional negligence relating to wills and trusts, as well as claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

Kate also works on a number of complex and high value commercial claims, including contractual disputes and civil fraud cases. In particular, Kate has previously acted for Rangers Football Club in its high profile disputes with Sports Direct and for Genting Casinos in the landmark Supreme Court win against Phil Ivey, as well as for Madiyar Ablyazov in his successful Court of Appeal case against JSC BTA Bank.

Kate is a member of the Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists (ACTAPS) and a committee member of The Contentious Trusts Association (ConTrA). She has been recommended in the Legal 500 annually since 2016, including as a Next Generation Lawyer in 2018 and a Rising Star in 2019 and 2020. Chambers HNW 2020 ranks her as an ‘Associate to Watch’ and notes she is “developing an impressive reputation for her work on private wealth disputes”. ​

Areas of Experience

• Wills, Trusts and Inheritance Disputes;
• Professional Negligence;
• Commercial and Contract Disputes; and
• Injunctions.

recent work

Contested Probate & Trust Cases

• Acting for a minor client in challenging the will of her late father on the grounds of forgery and fraud;
• Acting for several clients in challenging the will of their late step-mother, changed to exclude them shortly before her death as a result of alleged undue influence;
• Acting for a client in a proprietary estoppel and breach of trust claim against his parents in respect of the family business;
• Advising a trustee in a dispute with two co-trustees relating to trust distributions;
• Acting for the defendant in Gupta v Gupta [2018] EWHC 1353 (Ch) in successfully defending the claim bought by his sibling that their mother’s English will was invalid on the grounds of want of knowledge and approval;
• Acting for two clients bringing claims against their deceased father’s former partner and executors of his estate, in a case involving a challenge to three wills on the grounds of lack of capacity and undue influence, alleged forgery of insurance documents, and fraud relating to lifetime financial transactions;
• Acting for an elderly claimant to recover substantial sums taken from her by her daughter in breach of trust;
• Acting for a surviving spouse in successfully settling a 1975 Act claim by a step-child in a high value estate;
• Acting for a minor in successfully settling a 1975 Act claim against the estate of his father, nearly 5 years out of time, negotiating an award equivalent to the entire value of the estate;
• Acting for a minor through her litigation friend in successfully settling a breach of trust claim against her mother, relating to breach of a divorce agreement and unauthorised sale of trust property;
• Acting for an individual in defending allegations of undue influence and claims of lack of capacity and want of knowledge in respect of the high value estate of a prominent public figure;
• Acting for an individual in a professional negligence claim against solicitors in respect of his late mother’s will which was not validly executed.

Commercial cases

• Acting for Genting Casinos in successfully defending a claim by international poker player Phil Ivey, recently decided in the Casino’s favour by the Supreme Court (Ivey v Genting Casinos [2017] UKSC 67);
• Acting for the son of a Khazakh businessman in a successful High Court trial to recover over £1million which had been frozen in a UK account, and successfully defending the High Court decision in the Court of Appeal (JSC BTA Bank v Madiyar Ablyazov [2018] EWCA Civ 1176);
• Acting for Rangers Football Club in various proceedings and contractual disputes with Sports Direct; and
• Achieving a substantial settlement for an individual in a contractual claim against a large retailer relating to an international supermodel.

PRESS

Who died first? When the date of death matters (part 1)  |  Today's Wills and Probate (August 2019)

Who died first? When the date of death matters (part 2)  |  Today's Wills and Probate (August 2019)

Knowledge approval claim fails because the circumstances surrounding the will were not suspicious (ePrivate Client, June 2019)

Memberships

• Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists
• The Contentious Trusts Association (Committee Member)
• London Solicitors Litigation Association
• Junior London Solicitors Litigation Association 
• Law Society