Testamentary Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege Does Not Apply in Life Insurance Case

A federal district court rules that a woman accused of unduly influencing a decedent to change his life insurance beneficiary designations cannot compel production of testamentary documents from the decedent's attorney in order to show the decedent's state of mind because the testamentary exception to attorney-client privilege does not apply in a life insurance case. Collautt v. Li  (U.S. Dist. Ct., E.D. Pa., No. 14-632, Dec. 11, 2014).

Allan Collautt hired attorney Joseph Lastowka Jr. to revise his will to leave his estate to Lijie Li instead of to his children. Mr. Collautt also changed the beneficiary designation on his life insurance policies from his children to Ms. Li. The children challenged the beneficiary designations, claiming that Mr. Collautt was under the undue influence of Ms. Li when he made the change.

Ms. Li sought to subpoena Mr. Lastowka to produce any documents relating to Mr. Collautt's estate plan. Ms. Li argued that the information was important because discussions about beneficiary designations are a part of the estate planning process. Mr. Lastowka refused to comply, citing attorney-client privilege. Ms. Li filed a motion to compel, arguing that there is a testamentary exception to attorney-client privilege when a decedent makes changes to his estate plan shortly before death and is suspected of being unduly influenced.

The U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, denies the motion to compel, holding that the testamentary exception to the attorney-client privilege does not apply in this case because the information Ms. Li seeks is not being used in a will contest. According to the court, the testamentary exception cannot be used to produce testamentary documents in order to show Mr. Collautt's mental state when he modified his life insurance beneficiary designations.

For the full text of this decision, click here.

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