Fiduciary duty as the cornerstone of trust

For families of significant means, selecting the right individual or financial institution to help manage your trust and estate is more than a business decision — it’s a matter of legacy. Entrusting someone with your wealth often involves delegating responsibilities which shape your family’s future, including making investment decisions, determining philanthropic strategies and implementing your estate plan. Choosing someone who does not have the appropriate experience or your best interests in mind can jeopardize decades of hard work and aspirations.

How do you choose the right partner with competing voices and endless financial options? The simple answer is selecting a trusted fiduciary.

At its core, a fiduciary is an individual or institution that is legally required to put the interests of those they serve above their own. This principle encompasses a set of powerful obligations:

These obligations extend to professionals who manage wealth in a fiduciary capacity, including trustees and executors, investment advisors, corporate directors, nonprofit board members, and retirement plan administrators.

Fiduciary duty is vital for individuals and families who place their financial future in the hands of professionals. Whether it’s protecting a beneficiary’s interests, guiding investments through volatile markets, or overseeing philanthropic missions, working with professionals adhering to fiduciary principles provides the assurance someone is truly advocating for you.

Today, families are facing unprecedented challenges:

Given these challenges, having the right team of advisors in place to steward your financial future — including those in roles which adhere to fiduciary principles — is more important than ever.

A successful fiduciary engagement also requires collaboration among financial advisors, bankers, trust officers, and other professionals. A team approach to wealth management can help families thrive, while isolation may lead to missed opportunities, higher costs, and increased risk. Selecting the right people and institutions who are committed to working together toward your goals is critical to helping ensure your and your family’s best interests always remain at the forefront and your legacy is preserved across generations.

The world and its challenges continue to evolve. To help protect yourself and your family, it is important to make sure your future investment and estate plans incorporate the selection of the right person or institution to steward your legacy into the future. Those who understand and adhere to the principles underlying fiduciary responsibility provide an opportunity for families to preserve wealth and help ensure their values continue to be upheld for years to come.

Wells Fargo & Company and its affiliates do not provide tax or legal advice. This communication cannot be relied upon to avoid tax penalties. Please consult your tax and legal advisors to determine how this information may apply to your own situation. Whether any planned tax result is realized by you depends on the specific facts of your own situation at the time your tax return is filed.

Wells Fargo Trust is a part of WIM and offers services through Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and Wells Fargo Delaware Trust Company, N.A.

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (“the Bank”) offers various banking, advisory, fiduciary and custody products and services, including discretionary portfolio management. Wells Fargo affiliates, including Financial Advisors of Wells Fargo Advisors, may be paid an ongoing or one-time referral fee in relation to clients referred to the Bank. In these instances, the Bank is responsible for the day-to-day management of any referred accounts.