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18 months of the decedent's death. On August 9, 1993, the
probate court provided Ms. Midgorden with a "NOTICE" stating:
"Pursuant to Minnesota Statute 525.475 an order of complete
settlement of the estate * * * must be entered within 18 months
of the date of the appointment of the personal representative."
Due to deteriorating health, Mr. Held retired from his
practice on December 31, 1993, without preparing the decedent's
tax returns. Another accountant named Gary Weinberg bought
Mr. Held's business, and Mr. Weinberg mailed Ms. Midgorden a form
letter on or about December 31, 1993, acknowledging his intent to
prepare the decedent's tax returns. Ms. Midgorden did not
contact Mr. Weinberg to discuss this letter. Nor did she contact
him to discuss the status of the returns until after she was told
at a meeting in June 1994 that the returns were overdue. Before
this meeting, Ms. Midgorden had never attempted to learn for
herself the due date of the decedent's Federal estate tax return.
The persons present at the meeting in June 1994 were
Ms. Midgorden, Mr. Weinberg, and a financial assistant named
Tom Miller. Mr. Miller managed some of the decedent's
investments, and the meeting had been called for the purpose of
itemizing the estate's assets and to ascertain whether there was
enough information to start preparing the returns, which,
Ms. Midgorden believed, were not due for another 6 months. At
the meeting, it was "decided" that the estate owed the Federal
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