Fiduciary Advice and Litigation

The role of an executor or trustee involves a significant amount of responsibility and therefore the decisions made in those capacities cannot be made lightly.

Executors and trustees are fiduciaries.

The role of a fiduciary is greater than just administering and managing the funds of a trust or estate. It also involves following exacting standards and unique responsibilities. When these standards are violated — either accidently or intentionally — the trustee can be held personally liable. It is for this reason that the counsel of an experienced attorney can be helpful to an executor or trustee in traversing the fiduciary minefield. Quite simply, we help fiduciaries – both lay and professional – to do their job correctly. More importantly, we help to administer estates and trusts efficiently and transparently, with an emphasis on maintaining family harmony.

We also represent beneficiaries of trusts and estates where there are concerns that the fiduciary is violating his or her duty. In many cases, there is no egregious breach of fiduciary duty, but our involvement may help open the lines of communication between the fiduciary and the beneficiaries. In the worst cases, we can seek to have wayward fiduciaries removed and have funds lost by the trust or estate through negligence or malfeasance returned and the beneficiaries made whole.