Estate of Art Collector Sues Estate Planning Attorney

The attorney that was hired to create a residual charitable trust for late art collector Robert Ellsworth has been sued by the executor of Ellsworth’s estate.  The executor, Masahiro Hashiguchi alleges that attorney George L. Bischof was negligent in the creation of the trust and that the trust failed, which resulted in the estate facing over $25 million in estate taxes due to the trust not qualifying as a charitable remainder trust.

See Rozalia Jovanovic, Robert Ellsworth Estate Sues Attorney Over $25 Million Tax Blunder On Eve Of Christie’s Sale, Artnet News, March 18, 2015.

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this case to my attention.