Dean v. Smykowski
Defendant Robert A. Smykowski, an attorney, prepared an inter vivos trust agreement for Lucy Hoffman (the decedent). The trust agreement granted plaintiff Diana Dean a life estate in specified real property (the property). Dean sued Smykowski, alleging in her first amended complaint that Smykowski failed to exercise reasonable care in performing legal services for the decedent by (1) failing to draft the trust agreement in a manner consistent with the decedent's testamentary intentions, and (2) failing to advise the decedent that the trust agreement was inconsistent with those intentions. The gravamen of Dean's pleading is that decedent intended to give her the property in fee simple, not a life estate with the remainder going to other beneficiaries.
Comments on Dean v. Smykowski