The Kansas Supreme Court recently heard a case about legal malpractice resulting in excessive estate tax liability. The testator secured an attorney to draft a will and other documents. After the testator died, her estate was valued at $39.5 million. However, the estate taxes owed on the estate were almost $22 million. Thepersonal representative brought an action against the decedent’s attorney andothers alleging negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contractresulting in payment of estate taxes that could have been minimized by properplanning.
In Jeanes v. Bank of America, the court held that because the cause ofaction accrued at the decedent’s death, it could not qualify as a survivalclaim and therefore could not be pursued by the personal representative. Therefore, the claim for legal malpractice is not recoverable.
Jeanes v. Bank of America, NA, 295 P.3d 1045 (Kan. 2013).
Special thanks to William LaPiana (Professor of Law, New York Law School) for bringing this case to my attention.
