New York's highest court holds that a personal representative of an estate may maintain a legal malpractice claim against the decedent's estate planning attorney. Schneider v. Finmann (N.Y., No. 104, June 17, 2010).
Victor Finmann is an estate planning attorney who represented Saul Schneider for several years before he died. . At the time his death, Mr. Schneider owned a life insurance policy that became a part of his gross taxable estate.
Mr. Schneider's estate sued Mr. Finmann for legal malpractice, alleging that he failed to advise Mr. Schneider to transfer the policy. The trial court granted Mr. Finmann's motion to dismiss, and the appeals court affirmed, holding that the estate did not have privity to maintain an action for legal malpractice. Mr. Schneider appealed.
The New York Court of Appeals reverses, holding that "privity, or a relationship sufficiently approaching privity, exists between the personal representative of an estate and the estate planning attorney." The court notes that strict privity still prevents beneficiaries and other third parties from initiating estate planning malpractice claims without fraud or other circumstances, but that the estate essentially stands in the shoes of the decedent, so it can maintain a malpractice claim on the decedent's behalf.
For the full text of this decision in PDF, go to: https://www.courts.state.ny.us/ctapps/decisions/2010/jun10/104opn10.pdf
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