Fiducia Legal is a California law firm that represents fiduciaries in fulfilling their duties.

In Latin, fiducia means trust, faith and confidence.  It takes root in the word fiduciary, which refers to a person who has the power and obligation to act for another, thereby holding a position of trust. and confidence.  Fiduciaries include executors and administrators of estates, trustees of trusts, guardians, conservators, and corporate officers and directors.

Being a fiduciary often takes a lot of work. Here are some examples of what that work entails.

• An executor, or personal representative, is responsible for faithfully administering the estate according to the decedent's wishes as expressed in the last will and testament.  As a fiduciary appointed by the court, the executor is held to a strict standard in performing such duties as collecting and managing decedent's assets, paying debts, and distributing the remaining assets to beneficiaries specified in the will.  At the end of the process, an executor must account for all actions taken by filing a final report with the court.
• A successor trustee of a trust, after the death of its creator or settlor, is the manager of property held in a trust who must faithfully carry out the instructions of the trust.  Duties that the trustee owes to trust beneficiaries include holding and investing trust assets, making tax decisions concerning the trust, keeping accurate records of all trust transactions, issuing statements of accounts to trust beneficiaries, explaining the trust operations to the beneficiaries, and finally distributing trust income and/or principal as directed by the trust agreement.
• A conservator of the person is responsible for the personal care of an iincapacitated individual, including making decisions about health care, food, clothing and lodging, while the conservator of the estate (often the same person) assumes management of financial assets under court supervision.  This process can become very tedious, as courts require regular reporting of accounting. Furthermore, the conservator is usually required to request court permission before undertaking major asset transactions.
• A guardian, like a conservator, is primarily responsible for the personal care of minors and financial management of their assets.  As this process is also supervised by the court, guardians are required to file periodic financial reports to the courts and must request court permission for major financial transactions.
• Corporate officers and directors manage a company's business on a daily basis not for the company's sake, but those of its shareholders, who are the actual owners and beneficiaries of the company.  In order to fulfill their fiduciary duty to their shareholders, officers and directors must follow certain rules and restrictions while conducting their business and must properly account for all of their actions.

Fiducia Legal is founded by Attorney Frankie E. Woo, who received his undergraduate degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and earned his law degree from the University of Washington School of Law.  Attorney Woo was admitted to the State Bar of Califronia and US District Court (Central). 

Disclaimer

The contents of this website is intended for informational purposes only and use of this site does not create an attorney-client relationship between user and Fiducia Legal.  Email or forum correspondence also does not create an attorney-client relationship, although information obtained from such correspondence or sent to Fiducia Legal will enjoy the same level of confidentiality that a person with attorney-client privileges would expect.

Users should also be aware that laws often change quickly without advance notice, as new court decisions are handed down and laws are passed on a daily basis, thus making it very difficult to provide comprehensive updates on all laws that may affect users.  Although Fiducia Legal will attempt to provides regular updates to web content as warranted by major changes in the laws, it is under no obligation to do so in a timely fashion and cannot guarantee the accuracy of material on its website at any given time.  Users agree not to hold Fiducia Legal liable for any outdated material, misstatements of the law, typos, or errors.  Users should not rely solely on this website for legal information or advice, and are advised to consult an attorney to resolve their particular situation or case.  Furthermore, much of this website refers only to California law, as Fiducia Legal does not intend to practice law outside California.