What are some examples of breaches of fiduciary duty?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The paramount duties of the personal representative (or administrator) are to collect the decedent’s assets and preserve them; pay any debts, taxes, and estate expenses; and then distribute the assets according to the will provisions or intestate succession.
The bundle of obligations the personal representative has is called “fiduciary duties.”These duties require the personal representative to act in good faith solely on behalf of the estate and its beneficiaries. This is a position of trust and loyalty and must be undertaken with proper regard for the position, as well as the obligations that come with the position.
The duties of the personal representative include a laundry list of items and failing to do any of those things in a competent manner is a breach, as would be self-dealing or stealing from the estate.
?Locate Will and if the original cannot be found, have a safe deposit opened to find it. Hire an attorney to assist with the probate.
?Notify post office to forward mail to the personal representative.
?Open an estate bank account and notify all possible interested parties, including beneficiaries, heirs and creditors, as well as the decedent’s business associates, banks, investment advisors, accountants, lawyers and others, of the appointment.
?Search for assets of decedent, which entails going through all of the decedent’s records and belongings, and opening and inventorying the decedent’s safe deposit box, if any.
? The personal representative also often has the responsibility of selling the decedent’s real estate if there is no surviving spouse living on the premises. Real estate must be secured and locks are usually changed to insure that anxious heirs do not help themselves to assets that don’t belong to them. Sometimes the personal representative will have to manage leasehold property that belonged to the decedent as well.
?Obtain copies of all of decedent’s records including bank statements, brokerage statements, cancelled checks and income tax returns.
?Establish values for all stocks and bonds, and all other assets as of decedent’s date of death. The personal representative will usually enlist financial advisors and appraisers for this task. The personal representative will also have to determine how to collect the assets from each source, and deposit all the assets in the estate bank account.
?If the decedent had a business, the personal representative will have to determine which of the business’s assets belong to the decedent upon his or her death. These assets will have to be valued and collected as well. If the decedent was a sole proprietor, the personal representative will have the task of either winding up the business or selling it off to another, and depositing all the proceeds therefrom into the estate bank account.
?Collect all assets that were still due and owing to the decedent or the estate, and are held by others (such as retirement and life insurance accounts, which while they are not probate assets, often fall to the personal representative to obtain for the heirs or beneficiaries).
?Notify Social Security Administration and Veterans Administration of death, and obtain any death benefits as well as refund payments made after the date of death (if the decedent’s check was deposited electronically, SSA will automatically electronically draft any funds paid after the decedent’s death).
?Pay all lawful debts of the decedent and the estate, and sell assets as may be necessary to pay all such debts and expenses of the estate.
?Manage all of the estate’s assets and comply with the prudent investor rules in doing so. The personal representative must always act in a fiduciary capacity. The personal representative must always keep a detailed account of all funds taken in and paid out of the estate. These details will be needed for the estate accountings.
?Prepare and file all applicable tax returns, including the decedent’s last income tax returns (state and federal), income tax returns of the estate and estate tax returns, if required, and pay any taxes due. The personal representative may hire an accountant to prepare the documents on his or her behalf.
?Prepare all inventories and accountings required to be filed during the pendency of the estate.
?Make distributions of estate assets to the beneficiaries as required, and make a final distribution of the estate assets when authorized to do so.