Catherine L. Wilson

Catherine’s practice focuses on special needs planning and trust and estate litigation.

In her special needs practice, Catherine advises persons with disabilities and their family members on estate planning, as well as the post-litigation establishment of trusts designed to receive personal injury awards.  She routinely assists personal injury attorneys and their clients, advising on estate and tax considerations, as well as maintaining eligibility for government benefits.

In her litigation practice, Catherine represents both fiduciaries and beneficiaries of trusts and estates.  She defends and prosecutes will caveats, trust contests, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and other probate matters. She routinely advises individual and corporate trustees on best administrative practices.

Catherine grew up in Opelika, Alabama. She attended David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 2001. In 2005, Catherine earned her law degree from Vanderbilt University, where she was an Honors Scholar and served as Executive Articles Editor for the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. That same year, she earned a Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt Divinity School. She is a past Fellow of the Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership in the Professions at Vanderbilt University.

Catherine joined the firm in 2011 when her family relocated to Durham. Prior to her move, Catherine practiced with the Birmingham law firm of Sirote & Permutt, P.C. (now Dentons Sirote), working exclusively in its trusts and estates practice group. She is a member of the American, Alabama, and Durham Bar Associations, and the North Carolina Bar Association (Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law Section). She is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and an Associate Member of the Special Needs Alliance. She has been a North Carolina Board Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law since 2016. She is the current Chair of the Legislative Committee of the NCBA’s Estate Planning and Fiduciary Law Section. She is a past Director and Treasurer of the Sixteenth Judicial District Bar, the Durham County Bar Association, and the Durham Bar Foundation. She is an active member of St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church, where she serves as a past Treasurer and current Director of Religious Education.