fiduciary duties
Loyalty and care
Fiduciary duties are legal obligations to act in another's best interest rather than your own.
They arise when someone entrusts you with authority over their affairs—financial advisors managing client investments, trustees administering estates, corporate directors overseeing companies.
The core duties are loyalty and care: don't self-deal, don't take secret profits, act prudently.
The board breached its fiduciary duties by approving the merger without proper review.
Moral soundness and consistency
- good faithSincere, honest intent
- honestyTruthfulness, sincerity
- fairnessJust and equal treatment
- transparencyState of being see-through
accountability · impartiality · confidentiality · probity · rectitude · uprightness · conscientiousness · compliance
One managing another's assets
- beneficiaryDesignated asset receiver
- settlorTrust's founding party
- grantorOne who transfers rights
- trustorTrust agreement maker
breach of trust · trust instrument · testamentary · revocable · irrevocable · corpus · principal · ERISA
Supervision or inadvertent omission
- governanceHow authority is exercised
- administrationOrganizational oversight and control
- managementOrganizing and directing resources
- custodyProtective care or control
supervision · safeguarding · protection · guardianship · conservatorship · asset protection · duty of care · diligence
Loyalty owed to authority
- devotionDeep, loyal commitment
- faithfulnessDevoted loyalty maintained
- dedicationWholehearted loyalty to purpose
- commitmentFirm pledge to act
integrity
Moral soundness and consistency
- good faithSincere, honest intent
- honestyTruthfulness, sincerity
- fairnessJust and equal treatment
transparency · accountability · impartiality · confidentiality · probity · rectitude · uprightness · conscientiousness · compliance · duty of care
trustee
One managing another's assets
- beneficiaryDesignated asset receiver
- settlorTrust's founding party
- grantorOne who transfers rights
trustor · breach of trust · trust instrument · testamentary · revocable · irrevocable · corpus · principal · ERISA
oversight
Supervision or inadvertent omission
- governanceHow authority is exercised
- administrationOrganizational oversight and control
- managementOrganizing and directing resources
custody · supervision · safeguarding · protection · guardianship · conservatorship · asset protection · duty of care · diligence · preservation
allegiance
Loyalty owed to authority
- devotionDeep, loyal commitment
- faithfulnessDevoted loyalty maintained
- dedicationWholehearted loyalty to purpose
- investingstocks, stock, bonds, investing, investor
- inheritanceinheritance, inheritances, heir, heirs, heiress
- obligationsobligations, contractual obligations, jury duty, contract, military service
- agency lawagent, principal-agent, agency contract, power of attorney, proxy
- equity lawchancery, injunction, injunctions, subrogation, clean hands
- fiduciary managementtrust agreements, trust funds, financial oversight
fiduciary dutiesself-dealing
Misusing fiduciary position
caveat emptor · self-interest · embezzlement · breach of trust · misappropriation
fiduciary dutiesself-dealing
Misusing fiduciary position
breach of trust · conflict of interest · disloyalty · embezzlement · misappropriation
confidence, confident, fidelity, bona fide, confide, perfidy, affidavit, diffidence, infidel