August 3, 2017

A fiduciary is someone with a moral as well as a legal obligation to put their client’s interests first. Not every adviser would consider themselves to be a fiduciary and this could leave that person open to conflicts of interest. A new fiduciary role, however, requires that all advisors who work with retirement plans or provide any type of retirement and planning advice consider themselves fiduciaries, but other financial advisors may or may not act as strictly as fiduciaries. The best way to know for sure is to ask to your advisor.

Make sure that when selecting a trustee, you choose someone with the right kind of knowledge. Your trustee will most likely have to make serious decisions about how to manage the assets within your trust and they will need to have the appropriate background to make educated decisions. Ideally, they will have both an investment and a tax background and other types of experience may be required based on the types of assets within your estate.

If you have a small business as part of your estate, for example, you will want a trustee with business management experience. Consulting with a knowledgeable attorney to discuss the various benefits of moving forward with choosing a trustee is wise. Make sure that the individual that you select is well aware of his or her responsibilities, is capable of carrying them out and is comfortable doing so.