According to Wikipedia, “A fiduciary is a legal or ethical relationship of trust between two or more parties. Typically, a fiduciary prudently takes care of money for another person. One party, for example a corporate trust company or the trust department of a bank, acts in a fiduciary capacity to the other one, who for example has funds entrusted to it for investment. In a fiduciary relationship, one person, in a position of vulnerability, justifiably vests confidence, good faith, reliance and trust in another whose aid, advice or protection is sought in some matter. In such a relation good conscience requires the fiduciary to act at all times for the sole benefit and interest of the one who trusts.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiduciary, July 12, 2013
Again, according to the Professional Fiduciary Association of California (PFAC), “A fiduciary as trustee has the responsibility of carrying out the terms of a testamentary or living trust. The trustee is usually a person named by the creator of the trust, but in some cases, the trustees cannot carry out his or her duties because of incapacity or death. If there is no successor trustee who can serve, the court has the responsibility of appointing a trustee, usually someone nominated by the trust beneficiary who then safeguards the assets and invests them according to the Uniform Prudent Investor’s Act (as set forth in the Probate Code). Professional trustees working under the UPIA are held to a higher standard than others. The fiduciary as conservator is the person who is legally appointed to manage the conservatee’s estate and/or person. A conservatorship is a legal tool designed to provide management for the financial and/or personal affairs of individuals deemed by the court to be physically or mentally incapacitated, often because of dementia.” http://www.pfac-pro.org/ohana/website/index.cfm?p=118001 July12, 2013
In order to be a member of PFAC, professionals must be licensed, agree to adhere to the code of ethics, and demonstrate a commitment to their own professional skills by completing continuing education units annually.
Licensing is processed and monitored through the Department of Consumer Affairs; Professional Fiduciary Bureau (http://www.fiduciary.ca.gov/). My number is #387.
Trustees manage money, and oftentimes, difficult people and situations. When money is involved, beneficiaries and trustees sometimes have disagreements, and family arguments can be among the most rancorous. There are plenty of traditional families, blended families, dysfunctional families that are faced with an abundance of problems and issues when a parent dies or becomes incapacitated and there is money in an estate to be protected and invested. Sometimes non-professional trustees mismanage or neglect their trustee duties, and sometimes he or she may ignore the directions of the trust. Beneficiaries get angry, get an attorney and go to the probate court for resolution. That resolution often names a private professional fiduciary as the new trustee. Many attorneys, accountants and estate planners, who know good private professional fiduciaries, sometimes suggest a professional be named as trustee when a new trust is written.
I currently serve clients in the counties of Placer, Sacramento, Yolo, Yuba, El Dorado, Solano and Humboldt. Depending on the situation, I can serve clients in other counties as well.
Please call 916-220-3474 for your first hour free consultation.
I was reading Ashlea Ebeling, a Forbes staff writer, the other day by way of a suggestion from Elise Baker, an attorney in Rocklin Ca., on the topic of Payable On Death (POD) accounts.
