Bucquet v. Livingston

In Bucquet v. Livingston (1976) 57 Cal.App.3d 914, the beneficiaries of an inter vivos trust alleged the lawyer for the trustors (a husband and wife) had negligently included a general power of appointment in the trust, creating significant, unintended tax consequences that, following one of the trustors' death, reduced the share of the trust ultimately received by the beneficiaries. (Id. at pp. 917, 920.) The Court of Appeal observed there was no rational basis for distinguishing a trust instrument and a will for purposes of recognizing the drafting lawyer's duty of care to intended beneficiaries (id. at p. 922) and held the creation of the trust involved "was directly intended to affect the beneficiaries and the avoidance of federal estate tax and state inheritance tax was directly related to the amounts that the husband intended the beneficiaries to receive after the wife's death." (Id. at p. 923.)