What is a Fiduciary?
A fiduciary is a person or organization that is entrusted to act on behalf of someone else. Being a fiduciary is not a role to be taken lightly. Fiduciaries have legal and ethical responsibilities to act in another person’s best interests. If a fiduciary does not follow these responsibilities, it is considered very serious and can result in lawsuits.
While a family member or friend can be a fiduciary, caution should be used. Fiduciaries provide critical services for children, persons with disabilities, and seniors. Most people working as a professional fiduciary have specific training, education, and experience in legal and accounting matters that qualify them to handle this unique position of trust. However, the job of a fiduciary is far from easy.
What Does a Professional Fiduciary Do?
The most common services performed by professional fiduciaries include the following tasks:
- Pay bills on behalf of the beneficiary
- Receive payments or other income on behalf of the beneficiary
- Review bills and invoices with client and challenge discrepancies
- Assistance with financial benefit programs
- Bill pay and monitoring / daily money management
- Medicaid applications
- Fiduciary services -trustee, trust funding, personal representative
- Government assistance programs
- Insurance assistance
- Probate services
- Make bank deposits, withdrawals, or other transactions
- Review invoices
- Pay bills
- Bookkeeping
- Money management
- Buy or sell property
- Supervise care managers or caregivers
- Assist in the preparation and filing of tax returns
- Arrange the distribution of retirement benefits
- Negotiate and sign contracts
- Provide regular accountings and reporting
- Make personal visits and monitor needs
- Engage necessary professionals such as attorneys, CPAs, or doctors
Why Hire A Professional Fiduciary?
There are many benefits to hiring a professional fiduciary. Expertise and peace of mind are near the top of our list.
Let’s face it, caring for elderly or disabled people can become disheartening and frustrating. It can cause emotional, physical, and financial stress. Everyone reacts differently as a caregiver. No one should be criticized for trying to provide care and later realizing they cannot continue to act as a caregiver. Letting a professional step in is often the best and most practical solution for everyone involved.
Being a fiduciary requires technical skills and can be a considerable time commitment. Friends or family members cannot do the entire job themselves. There will come a time when professional involvement is a must. Hopefully, this option will be chosen before the emotional, physical, and financial stress leads to exhaustion.
Choose Trained and Trusted Professionals
Our professional fiduciary services provide management and oversight of the specific needs of our clients. These may include financial matters, issues of personal care, and in some cases, end-of-life decisions.
Roberson Law has an A+ rating with the BBB. We are known for our compassion, commitment, integrity, and loyalty to our clients. Our team is highly skilled and comes with the experience and knowledge that is truly invaluable.
Our Services
- Trustee or Successor Trustee
- Personal Representative
- Attorney-in-Fact
- Consultative services
- Bill pay services
- Professional advocate
- Health care surrogate
- Bookkeeping
- Budgeting
