Opinion ID: 2192290
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Beneficiaries' Claims

Text: [¶ 39] The last matter for this Court to address is the beneficiaries' claims against Hale & Hamlin. The trial court determined that the individual beneficiaries lacked standing to make a claim against Hale & Hamlin because they were not clients of Hale & Hamlin and, therefore, lacked privity. [¶ 40] A number of the jurisdictions that have addressed the issue have determined that individual named beneficiaries of a will have standing to bring professional negligence claims against attorneys representing estates or preparing estate documents. See, e.g., Simpson v. Calivas, 139 N.H. 1, 650 A.2d 318, 321 (1994) (citing R. MALLEN & J. SMITH, LEGAL MALPRACTICE § 26.4, at 595 (3d ed. 1989 & Supp.1992)). [¶ 41] When there is a personal representative to assert the financial claims on behalf of the estate, however, the better rule appears to be not to allow individual beneficiaries to assert claims for negligence. Otherwise, it is possible that a number of individual beneficiaries could assert differing and conflicting malpractice claims, and attorneys, in drafting wills and estate planning documents, could be presented with difficult challenges resolving conflict of interest issues with respect to named beneficiaries at times when they are drafting the documents. See Barcelo v. Elliott, 923 S.W.2d 575, 578 (Tex. 1996). In such instances, what is good for one beneficiary may not be good for another beneficiary or for the estate as a whole. A holding that attorneys have some duty, enforceable through a cause of action, to individual beneficiaries of estates, separate from their duty to the estate itself, could significantly add to the difficulty and cost of preparing estate planning documents and obtaining competent counsel to draft documents when there is a significant possibility of conflict among beneficiaries. Accordingly, we conclude that individual beneficiaries do not have standing to sue estate planning attorneys for malpractice when they are not the client who retained the attorney and when the estate is represented by a personal representative who stands in the shoes of the client. [¶ 42] Therefore, we conclude that: 1. The Superior Court ruled correctly in dismissing the claims by the personal representative and the individual beneficiaries against the law firm defendants. 2. The judgment of the Superior Court must be vacated and remanded for determination of the claims by all the plaintiffs against Union Trust. The entry is Judgment vacated in part and affirmed in part. Remanded to the Superior Court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.