Schneider v. Finmann, 15 N.Y.3d 306 (2010) and Robinson v. Benton, 842 So. 2d 631 (2002)

Absent fraud or other circumstances, beneficiaries and other third party individuals do not have privity to sue an attorney for legal malpractice. Allowing such claims would result in uncertainty and limitless liability of an attorney to an indeterminate class of plaintiffs. However, requiring strict privity between a client and a lawyer in order to sue for legal malpractice (the minority rule in a number of states) would bar a personal representative from bringing a legal malpractice claim against an attorney after the death of the party who actually contracted with the attorney to make the estate plan. To get around this dilemma the majority of states merely require a relationship sufficiently approaching privity between a party and an estate planning attorney. A personal representative who essentially stands in the shoes of the decedent has such a relationship, and may bring a legal malpractice claim.

Introduction and Overview of Inter-Generational Wealth Transfer