Atlanta Wealth Management provides fiduciary training and fiduciary assessments, or audits, to help trustees understand and prudently manage their investment fiduciary obligations.
Private trustees of family trusts have fiduciary duties to their trust’s beneficiaries. As investment stewards, they have the legal responsibility for managing investment decisions, must care for their trust’s assets, and put their beneficiary’s interests first. An investment steward is usually not an investment professional, but is responsible for selecting and overseeing investment professionals for the entity they serve.
Many investment stewards do not realize they are fiduciaries—and fewer still are truly aware of the full scope of their responsibilities. Trustees are often family members with little or no formal fiduciary training. The Uniform Prudent Investor Act (UPIA) is a widely-adopted state law that covers fiduciary responsibilities related to private trusts. More than 40 states generally have adopted the model law, although differences may exist from state to state. While fiduciary requirements for trustees are generally defined in state law, the actual processes that should be used to comply with those requirements are not clearly defined by law.
With that issue in mind, the Pittsburgh-based Center for Fiduciary Studies has developed Prudent Practices® for Investment Stewards to help them understand and meet their fiduciary responsibilities.
The Prudent Practices encompass a step-by-step investment process that ensures that an investment strategy is being properly developed, implemented and monitored, according to both legal and ethical obligations. Each of the Prudent Practices has been substantiated by applicable legislation, regulation and/or case law to ensure compliance. Full citations, as well as detailed criteria, narrative discussion, practical application, and suggested procedures can be found in the "Prudent Practices for Investment Stewards" Handbook. The handbook was written by Fi360 with technical review provided by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Adopting the Practices into your trust’s investment processes can mitigate compliance and litigation risk, and improve efficiency and effectiveness. You can review these Prudent Practices now by downloading the Periodic Table of Global Fiduciary Standards for Investment Stewards.
If you need guidance to evaluate and improve your fiduciary investment processes, Atlanta Wealth Management can help.
We provide trustees with training in fiduciary best practices that can help you meet your fiduciary responsibilities. As a first step, we would be pleased to send you a copy of the Prudent Practices for Investment Stewards Handbook described above. To receive the Handbook, call David Boone at 404-713-0247 or email him.
Learn more about our Trustee Fiduciary Assessments