Catherine A. Olsiak

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Catherine is a Partner at SimpsonWigle LAW, concentrating her practice in the areas of Wills, Estates, Trusts, Incapacity Planning and Health Law. She advises clients as to living life according to their wishes and ensuring that their estate plans reflect the human and dynamic elements of their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

Catherine’s practice includes working with business owners and corporate clients, dealing with transitional planning, working with corporate lawyers and tax planners to deliver comprehensive estate and succession plans.

Catherine broadly describes her practice as falling into two categories:

• Supporting and advising clients as they move through their respective stages of life, such as marriage, planning for children and grandchildren, incapacity, end of life issues
• Responding and supporting clients in crisis situations, such as unexpected illness and death, providing for a disabled person, dealing with the incapacity of a loved one, and dealing with issues related to long term care.

From a planning perspective, Catherine drafts wills and prepares estate plans to accommodate the expanded requirements of adult children and their families with unique and complicated asset portfolios, plus the growing need to deal with situations of divorced, separated, remarried and disabled persons and minor children and grandchildren. Catherine drafts powers of attorney for property and personal care for individuals and provides guidance and direction to financial institutions dealing with power of attorney issues during their regular business activities.

From an administrative and remedy perspective, Catherine’s experience includes but is not limited to the following, estate administration, the appointment or removal of trustees, passing of accounts for estates and guardianships, Will challenges, dependent relief claims, and applications to remove powers of attorney for property and personal care.

Prior to her career in law, Catherine nursed in three major Toronto hospitals in the cardiology department, trauma intensive care unit and cardiovascular intensive care unit. Catherine also obtained a MSc. in Community Health and Epidemiology.

Catherine’s medical background enables her to contemplate the client’s situation from a broader life perspective and aids in her understanding of how to maintain the quality of life they desire both personally and financially.

A THOROUGH, PATIENT APPROACH

“I like to know my client, as a whole person. It’s important to know their goals and how they feel about life because that helps me work with them in the now, but also helps to build the relationship.”

WHAT SETS CATHERINE APART

“I don’t like the concept of ‘transactional lawyers’; being all about paper and money. I like to think of the grass roots of what we do: advocating for, and being part of, the community.”

THE BEST PART OF THE JOB

“I love to find out more about my clients; who they are and where they’re from. Learning about them, you learn more about the community they come from – this is really interesting and rewarding to me.”