Florida Estate Planning Legal Malpractice Case Which Every Estate Beneficiary Should Read

Did you lose out on an inheritance due to a Palm Beach probate lawyer? Are you a beneficiary of someone’s Florida estate or last will?  Maybe a Florida revocable trust or an intended beneficiary of a gift?  If that will or gift failed, you need to read this case:  a corrected opinion was issued by Florida’s 5th District Court of Appeal in a legal malpractice case involving, allegedly, the failure of a Florida attorney to properly prepare or write Florida legal documents gifting property.  This is a hot topic for Palm Beach probate litigators and those that handle estate litigation in Palm Beach and Broward County. Why is this Florida legal malpractice case important to Palm Beach estate beneficiaries or Ft. Lauderdale trust beneficiaries?  Because if a lawyer made a mistake leaving an inheritance to you or if a gift failed, there may be a case of Florida legal malpractice. If there is a case of Florida legal malpractice involving estate planning, one very important legal or procedural question becomes : who can sue the Palm Beach probate lawyer?  Not everyone can.  Including estate beneficiaries. Or failed beneficiaries.  That’s because Florida legal malpractice law generally only permits someone with PRIVITY to the attorney to sue that attorney for legal malpractice.  If your mom was supposed to leave you $ 1 Million under her will, but her attorney just never got around to drafting her will, and your mom died, do you, as a failed Palm Beach estate beneficiary have a right to sue your mom’s Palm Beach probate attorney?  If you can’t, then who can, if anybody?  How about the personal representative of your mom’s estate (what other states call an “executor” or “estate administrator”)? Your Palm Beach probate litigator will know that answer to those questions.  But it may be helpful if your Palm Beach probate lawyer reads this February 7, 2014 corrected opinion.