Opinion 1221

From your inquiry, the Committee understood that you represent a testamentary trust, one of the co-trustees of which is the wife of the deceased. The Committee was of the opinion, based upon the principles set out in Estate of Larson, 103 Wn.2d 517 (1985) that in this situation, an attorney-client relationship exists between you and the wife. The Committee understood from your inquiry that the co-trustees have distributed all of the corpus of the trust, and that you are concerned whether you have any duty of disclosure of that fact to the residual heirs. The Committee is of the opinion, based upon the attorney-client relationship between you and the wife, that disclosure would only be permitted pursuant to RPC 1.6.

Advisory Opinions are provided for the education of the Bar and reflect the opinion of the Committee on Professional Ethics (CPE) or its predecessors. Advisory Opinions are provided pursuant to the authorization granted by the Board of Governors, but are not individually approved by the Board and do not reflect the official position of the Bar association. Laws other than the Washington State Rules of Professional Conduct may apply to the inquiry. The Committee's answer does not include or opine about any other applicable law other than the meaning of the Rules of Professional Conduct.