fiduciary duties

In addition to creating wills and drafting powers of attorney, there are times when clients need us to do more.  A fiduciary is someone who acts on behalf of someone else for decision-making.  This can be a financial role or it can include additional decision-making capacities.  Being a fiduciary is an ethical obligation to work for the best interest of someone else.  It requires technical knowledge, sensitivity, and fair judgment.

During a regular day, we wear various fiduciary hats for our clients, including those of Trustee, Agent under Power of Attorney, Personal Representative, and Conservator and/or Guardian.  In these cases, we have more of an ongoing role: we take care of day-to-day issues for seniors, individuals with disabilities, and their loved ones.

The extent of our involvement depends on the client’s needs.  For some, we take care of mail and bill-paying.  We can act as a local liaison to keep family members up to date on how a loved one is faring.  We can be a go-between for tax preparation.  We can serve as Agent under Power of Attorney for either medical or financial needs (or both) in the event a client becomes incapacitated.  We can be hired, or appointed by the Court, to serve as Guardian and/or Conservator for someone who is unable to advocate for him- or herself.  (Guardianships are appointed to assist with personal needs (like medical decisions and housing needs); Conservatorships are for financial affairs (like paying bills and opening accounts).)  We can advise Personal Representatives, or serve as PR ourselves, for an estate after someone has passed away.  For our clients with trusts, we can be hired to serve as Trustee, alone or in conjunction with another person.  As a disinterested party, we are able to be impartial, plus we also bring investment knowledge and management expertise.

We bring expertise in:

    1. appropriate distributions
    2. tax identification numbers/annual tax filings
    3. Uniform Prudent Investor Act
    4. Fiduciary Duty
    5. the Uniform Trust Code
    6. fair market value
    7. cost basis
    8. income versus principal allocation
    9. required beneficiary notices
    10. annual accountings

