Is it ethically permissible for a lawyer to represent both spouses in estate planning if both consent?

• A. Yes, with full written consent of both clients
• B. No, never permissible
• C. Yes, if the conflict is resolved by a court
• D. Yes, if the clients' interests are identical

Answer: (D)

The main idea here is ethical representation when two clients share the same goals. A lawyer can ethically represent both spouses in estate planning when there isn’t any real conflict between their interests. If both spouses want the same outcome—for example, mutually shared wills, coordinated beneficiary designations, and aligned asset distribution—the lawyer can pursue a single, coherent plan for both without compromising loyalty or confidentiality. In this situation, the lawyer’s duties to each client are not at odds, so there’s no inherent conflict that would require separate representation or court intervention.

Because there’s no competing interest, informed consent from both spouses still matters, but it isn’t the gating factor in itself; the absence of conflict is what makes joint representation appropriate. This is why the best answer is that representing both spouses is permissible when their interests are identical. If the spouses’ interests were not identical and could diverge, that would raise conflicts of interest and typically would require separate representation unless a court or other formal mechanism resolves the issue, which is not the standard approach in routine estate planning.