Who Has Privity in Negligent Administration Claims?

This past February, New York Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry sponsored a bill (No. A04532) to allow beneficiaries or distributees of a will to bring a negligence claim against the attorney who administered it. The bill was referred to the judiciary committee but was not put to a vote in the 2017 legislative session. This year was not the first time this bill was sponsored in New York—and it likely will not be the last. Indeed, other states have grappled with this and similar issues, typically focusing on the interplay between the doctrine of privity and who has standing to bring such claims.