Julian Bivins, as personal representative of the ancillary estate of Oliver Wilson Bivins, Plaintiff, vs. Curtis Cahalloner Rogers, Jr., as former guardian, et al., Defendants.

Summary

Under Florida Statute § 90.5021, the attorney-client privilege for communications between a guardian and the guardian’s attorney belongs to the guardian, not the ward’s estate, abrogating the prior fiduciary-duty exception recognized in Tripp v. Salkovitz. The court holds that the personal representative of a deceased ward cannot waive the guardian’s attorney-client privilege to obtain discovery. Similarly, the accountant-client privilege under § 90.5055 runs between the guardian and the accountants, though the court orders in camera review of withheld confidential communications.

Holdings

1. Pursuant to Section 90.5021, Florida Statutes, the attorney-client privilege runs between the guardian and the guardian's attorney; the personal representative of the deceased ward's estate does not hold the privilege and cannot waive it.
2. The Florida Supreme Court's declination to adopt Section 90.5021 into the Evidence Code does not render the statute ineffective; the statute remains the law in Florida.
3. Under Section 90.5055(3)(b), Florida Statutes, the accountant-client privilege runs between the guardians and their accountants, not between the personal representative of the estate and the accountants. The Tripp line of cases does not apply to the accountant-client privilege.

Questions Presented

1. Whether, under Florida law, the attorney-client privilege belongs to the guardian or to the personal representative of the deceased ward's estate, specifically whether the 2011 enactment of Fla. Stat. § 90.5021 abrogates the prior case law that permitted the estate to waive the privilege.
2. Whether the accountant-client privilege under Fla. Stat. § 90.5055 runs between the accountants hired by the guardians and the guardians, or between the accountants and the deceased ward's estate, and the appropriate scope of in camera review for withheld confidential communications.

Disposition

other