As a trust company, our daily lives revolve around serving as a fiduciary for our clients, so all of our associates are well versed in the duties and responsibilities. But we are aware that many of our clients also serve in fiduciary roles. Even if not serving as a fiduciary in a legal sense, it can be argued that one has a moral obligation to serve as a good steward for personal or family assets. We therefore thought it might be useful to provide a little education as well as our own perspective on assuming this important responsibility. The requirements of a fiduciary can be summarized in three bullet points:
- A fiduciary must act in the best interests of both current and future beneficiaries
- A fiduciary must have the requisite level of knowledge and expertise to fulfill her obligations
- And, a fiduciary must behave prudently while exercising a reasonable level of care
In our recently published white paper we provide a primer on legal and moral obligations and then turn to the specifics of serving as a fiduciary for investment assets. You can learn more by clicking HERE.