The estate of a prominent art collector has sued the attorney who drafted the art collector's will for legal malpractice. The lawsuit, filed in the New York Supreme Court, claims the attorney's error will cost the estate $25 million in taxes.
Collector Robert Ellsworth, whom The New York Times once called “the king of Ming” for his renowned collection of Asian art, hired attorney George Bischof to draft his will. In 2010, Bischof drafted a will that left Ellsworth's estate outright to his friend, Masahiro Hashiguchi, with six charities as contingent beneficiaries. In 2013, Ellsworth changed his will to name Bischof as the sole trustee of a residuary trust. Under the new will, the residue of the estate was left to a discretionary trust that benefited Hashiguchi during his life and then the remainder of the trust was left to charity.
The lawsuit alleges that Bischof drafted the will in a manner that did not allow the trust to qualify as a charitable remainder trust and therefore meet the criteria for the federal estate tax charitable deduction. According to the lawsuit, because of the "negligently and carelessly" drafted trust, the estate will have to pay $25 million in estate taxes that it wouldn't have had to pay if the trust had been properly drafted.
For more about this case from artnet, click here.
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