This article addresses best practice standards for lawyers that work with brokers, investment advisors and financial planners in supporting investments owned through a trust account
The American College of Trust and Estate [1] Counsel recently published its long awaited “Guide for ACTEC Fellows Serving as Trustees”. These ACTEC standards, while not inflexible or monolithic, represent “best practice” for the profession and, for practicing lawyers, help define standards of reasonableness for fiduciary [2] administration of trust assets. Indeed, ACTEC allows for considerable variation in business practice models. Under some models attorneys act as a sole trustee, while under others they act as a co-trustee with beneficiaries or other commercial fiduciaries. Along the business services spectrum, the lawyer-trustee can provide a full range of investment and administrative services or can act as an “advisory fiduciary” that oversees other vendors as they provide requisite services.
We review best practices and potential pitfalls as lawyers seek to follow the ACTEC guidance.
Download The Lawyer as Trustee: Working with Brokers, Investment Advisors and Financial Planners [3].
This article was authored by Patrick J. Collins Ph.D., CLU, CFA [4] and originally appeared in the Maryland Bar Journal.