News & Analysis as of

Attorney-Client Privilege Beneficiaries

McGuireWoods LLP

Court Analyzes the “Testamentary Exception” — With a Twist

McGuireWoods LLP on

Under the aptly named “testamentary exception,” a beneficiary taking under a will can sometimes access communications between the testator and the testator’s lawyer. This exception rests on the understandable concept that the...more

Downey Brand LLP

Godoy v. Linzner and the Lawyer’s Duty to Shut Down a Bad Idea

Downey Brand LLP on

Under universally accepted law, across every jurisdiction, lawyers owe vital and concrete duties to their clients.  The duty of confidentiality.  The duty of loyalty.  The duty to disclose.  And, greatest of all, the duty to...more

Winstead PC

Trustee’s Ability To Retain And Compensate Attorneys In Texas - Presentation

Winstead PC on

David F. Johnson presented his paper titled “Trustee’s Ability To Retain And Compensate Attorneys In Texas” to the Texas State Bar’s 48th Annual Advanced Estate Planning and Probate Course on June 13, 2024, in Houston, Texas....more

Winstead PC

[Webinar] Financial Services - Issues Regarding The Attorney-Client Privilege For Trustees In Texas - September 26th, 10:00 am -...

Winstead PC on

This presentation will take a detailed look at the attorney-client privilege between a trustee and its attorney, the scope of the privilege, the fiduciary exception that would allow beneficiaries to review communications and...more

ArentFox Schiff

Minority Business Owners and Trust Beneficiaries May Be Able to Obtain Otherwise Privileged Documents

ArentFox Schiff on

In certain circumstances, shareholders of corporations and members of limited liability companies can obtain confidential communications between corporate management and the company’s attorney that would otherwise be...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

Fiduciary Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege is Alive and Well in Pennsylvania (For Now)

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

On May 23, 2022, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania held that the fiduciary exception to the attorney-client privilege and attorney work product doctrine is consistent with Pennsylvania law. This ruling was highly anticipated...more

Winstead PC

[Webinar] Financial Services - Advising Trustees Who Manage Closely-Held Business Interests - September 27th, 10:00 am - 11:00 am...

Winstead PC on

Settlors often place some or all of the ownership in a closely-held business in a trust. A trustee managing a trust with an interest in a closely held business has difficult management issues to address and this often raises...more

Cozen O'Connor

Split McAleer Ruling Leaves Attorney-Client Privilege Fiduciary Exception In Limbo

Cozen O'Connor on

In a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court case, In re: Estate of William K. McAleer, the state high court addressed the issue of whether Pennsylvania law recognizes the fiduciary exception to attorney-client privilege....more

Downey Brand LLP

When Can California Trustees Use Trust Funds to Hire Lawyers?

Downey Brand LLP on

Many family member trustees are uncertain about whether and to what extent they can use trust assets to obtain legal representation. For example, when two parents choose their daughter, upon their incapacity or death, to...more

Winstead PC

[Webinar] Fiduciary Litigation Update: 2019-2020 - December 15th, 10:00 am - 11:15 am CT

Winstead PC on

This presentation will cover Texas cases dealing with fiduciary issues over the survey period. Some of the issues involve the removal of a trustee, the resignation of a trustee, the production of confidential trust...more

Allen Matkins

Nevada Rejects Fiduciary Exception To Attorney-Client Privilege

Allen Matkins on

The fiduciary exception to the attorney-client privilege holds that a fiduciary, such as a trustee of a trust, is disabled from asserting the privilege against beneficiaries on matters of trust administration.  Nevada, like...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Waiving a Decendent’s Attorney-Client Privilege

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

“The attorney client privilege, the oldest among common-law evidentiary privileges, fosters the open dialogue between lawyer and client that is deemed essential to effective representation” (Spectrum Sys. Intern. Corp. v...more

Winstead PC

Texas Court Grants Mandamus Relief To Protect A Trustee’s Attorney-Client Communications From Being Disclosed To A Beneficiary

Winstead PC on

In In re Alexander, a beneficiary filed suit against the trustee based on multiple allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, including an allegation that the trustee attempted to transfer the trustee position to successors in...more

Carlton Fields

Court Sheds Light on ERISA’s Fiduciary Exception to Attorney-Client Privilege

Carlton Fields on

A federal district court in Ohio recently attempted to shed some light on when internal communications between an ERISA plan administrator and its in-house counsel are discoverable and when they are protected by the...more

Winstead PC

On Rehearing, Court Holds That Drafts Of Wills and Trust Documents Are Not Discoverable And Discusses The Attorney-Client...

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In In re Rittenmeyer, the mother of the decedent was the executor of his estate. No. 05-17-01378-CV, 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 6647 (Tex. App.—Dallas August 22, 2018, original proceeding)....more

Downey Brand LLP

Successor Trustee Gets Privileged Documents Even if Trust Says Otherwise

Downey Brand LLP on

The attorney-client privilege in California belongs to the office of trustee, not to the incumbent in that office, thus generally allowing successor trustees to obtain confidential communications that their predecessors had...more

Proskauer - Minding Your Business

Florida’s Fiduciary Lawyer-Client Privilege Adopted by the Florida Supreme Court

Last week, the Florida Supreme Court adopted section 90.5021, Fla. Stat. – Florida’s fiduciary lawyer-client privilege – to the extent it is procedural and held that the decision is retroactive to the Florida legislature’s...more

Proskauer - Minding Your Business

Florida’s Fiduciary Lawyer-Client Privilege is on the Books, But is it Good Law?

In 2011, Florida’s legislature enacted section 90.5021, Fla. Stat., which provides for application of the lawyer-client privilege – even when the client is a fiduciary....more

McGuireWoods LLP

The "Testamentary Exception"

McGuireWoods LLP on

All jurisdictions recognize that the attorney-client privilege lasts beyond the client's death, and that lawyers who represented the client must assert that privilege if a third party seeks privileged communications. However,...more

Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC

The Fiduciary Exception to the Attorney-Client Privilege: Whose Privilege is it in Litigation?

The attorney-client privilege is a cornerstone of the legal practice. The privilege protects the confidentiality of communications between a client and an attorney from disclosure to a third party when the communications are...more

Charles E. Rounds, Jr. - Suffolk University...

The fiduciary exception to the attorney-client privilege: A recent development

In a suit by the beneficiary against the trustee, is the trustee entitled to assert the attorney-client privilege against the beneficiary, or is there a fiduciary exception to the attorney-client privilege? As to...more

McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC

Is Attorney-Client Privilege Affected By Who Pays Counsel Fees?

After receiving great interest from our “Fiduciary Exception to the Attorney-Client Privilege” article, we provide this follow-up article to address a possible “exception to the exception” that may still protect documents...more

Charles E. Rounds, Jr. - Suffolk University...

The Trust Being a Multi-Party Relationship, Whom Legal Counsel Represents Can Get Complicated

The trust being a multi-party relationship, it is not always that easy to discern at any given time whom legal counsel is representing, or should be representing, in matters relating to the trust’s creation and...more

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