Legal Question in DUI Law in New Hampshire

Liability

House is owned in trust, are the individual beneficiaries of the trust liable, civilly or criminally if a guest leaves drunk and gets in an accident that causes injury or heaven forbid death? What if the guest is under 21? What about accidents on the property, are the beneficiaries liable?


Asked on 7/15/08, 4:11 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

Jessica Foley Law Office of Jessica A. Foley

Re: Liability

It depends. Isn't that a good legal answer? Who has control of the house? Also, depending on the circumstances there can be both civil and criminal liability.

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Answered on 7/15/08, 4:46 pm

Re: Liability

There is not enough information about the trust, the beneficiaries, who is residing at the residence, who thetrustee is, and who does what wth respect to serving alcohol (to a minor?) for this question to be answered. Obviously, all of these answers play a role since merely placing a house into a trust does not eliminate liability for the owners/beneficiaries or trustee(s) if they are one and the same.

Criminal liability has nothing to do, whatsoever, with whetehr the house is owned in a trust. If a person allows minors to consume alcohol on the premises, then they can be held criminally liable.

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Answered on 7/15/08, 4:57 pm
Craig J. Tiedemann Kajko, Weisman & Colasanti, LLP

Re: Liability

A complicated question with lots of variables depending on specifics. Is the property in a "nominee" realty trust? If so, the trustee can generally be held liable.

There can also be social host liability for the owner, depending, again, on the specifics. Give me a call if you would like to discuss this further.

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Answered on 7/15/08, 5:09 pm


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