Learn about Fiduciary

What does Fiduciary mean?

We can never make a financial decision for us or our family. There will always be confusion whether we are making the right decision or not. If the financial decision involves the future safety for our family and us then we will never be sure if we are making the right decision or not. It is during this situation that we really need help; we can take the help of the professionals. The professionals can guide us in making the right decision but they don’t know us as personally as our family does, so at times we cannot totally decide based on their advice alone.  This is where Fiduciaries come into play; Fiduciaries are people or trust that help us in making a financial decision. They can also take decisions for our family well being after us. They can be people from our acquaintances, family and friends, they can look after the trust and funds that you have set up.

Some of the issues where your acquaintances, family and friends can help in making decisions include:

• In case of a will on an estate, the representative can see to that the will is being properly carried out.
• In case of your death, looks after the funds and well being for your children
• In case of disability or death, looks after your trust after your death, or in case of disability
• In case of medical decisions, the person can make medical related decisions as you have written in Advance Medical Directive. In this scenario alone you cannot name an institution as your Fiduciary. This decision is made only by a single person.
• In case you become mentally ill, then you can appoint a pre need guardian, this person can look after you can help you overcome some of your issues.                               

It is often advisable to name more than one Fiduciary, in case if the one person you have named in unavailable. Usually a spouse is name as one of the fiduciary, but it is always better to consult your attorney in all these matters and then decide on the person who suits you better.

Questions:

• Is it a good choice to appoint a fiduciary?
• In case if the fiduciary does not follow the rule correctly, can any legal action be taken on them?