Fiduciary

What it means

An executor, an administrator, a trustee, an agent under a power of attorney, a guardian, a conservator and a representative payee are all fiduciaries. The role differs; the standard does not.

It is the highest duty the law asks of anybody acting for another: loyalty, prudence, keeping the money separate, keeping records, and treating beneficiaries impartially.

It is personal. A fiduciary who mixes funds, favors one beneficiary, or acts on a conflict can be made to repay the estate out of their own pocket.

Why it matters

Families take these roles as favors and discover they are legal appointments with personal liability. Nobody explains that when the will is read.

It also decides how to behave when a decision is uncomfortable: the question is never what the family wants or what is easiest, but what the document and the law require.

When you are likely to meet it

• When accepting an appointment as executor, trustee or agent.
• When another beneficiary questions a decision.
• When the person in the role stands to benefit from it personally.

How this varies by state

What a fiduciary must file, how often, and who may call them to account are set by state law.

Related terms

• AdministratorThe person a court appoints to handle an estate when there is no will, or no usable executor.
• ConservatorshipA court appointing somebody to manage the money and property of an adult who cannot manage it themselves.
• Estate accountingA statement of everything that came into the estate and everything that went out, presented before the estate can be closed.
• ExecutorThe person named in a will to carry it out — once a court actually appoints them.
• Fiduciary dutyThe obligation to act for somebody else's benefit rather than your own — and to be able to show you did.
• Interested personAnybody the law says has a stake in an estate — an heir, a beneficiary, a creditor, sometimes a fiduciary. It decides who gets told and who may object.
• Personal representativeThe neutral term for whoever is authorized to act for an estate, whether named in a will or appointed by a court.
• Representative payeeSomebody appointed by Social Security to receive and manage benefits for a person who cannot manage them.
• Successor trusteeThe person who takes over a trust when the original trustee dies, resigns, or can no longer serve.
• TrusteeThe person or institution that holds and manages trust property for the people it is meant to benefit.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Being an executor
• Managing money for a parent