Karen Strasilla Fiduciary Services Welcomes You

A fiduciary is a person who is named in a private agreement or by a court to assume responsibility for a position of trust. Fiduciaries handle affairs on someone else’s behalf while they are still alive and/or after they have passed away. For example, a representative payee for a loved one’s Social Security benefits and an executor for a decedent’s estate both serve in a fiduciary role.

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Professional fiduciaries must act within the legal authority granted to them and in the best interest of the person they are representing. Breach of fiduciary duties is taken extremely seriously. While it may seem unnerving to appoint someone you do not know, professionals in this line of work must follow a strict code of ethics and are typically regulated by individual states.

One of the biggest benefits of hiring a professional fiduciary is the ability to avoid family conflict. For example, parents often wish to name a child as their agent, but in cases where there are multiple children, squabbles over decisions and who holds the power to make them can get ugly. Appointing multiple individuals to serve as co-agents can make things even worse. A professional fiduciary lends objective legal and financial expertise while ensuring that a person’s affairs are taken care of without added drama.

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