Making Sense of Fiduciary Litigation
and Improper Execution

Fiduciaries and Fiduciary Duty

Fiduciary is a Latin word meaning confidence and trust. In probate law, fiduciaries help testators with estate planning or administer their property after death.

They also mange estate assets and act on behalf of beneficiaries according to the directives found in testamentary documents.

Any of the following positions may serve as a fiduciary in estate and trust business affairs:

• Institutions or individuals who testators appoint in their wills to settle their estates; executors pay off the deceased’s debts and tax obligations and distribute the rest of the estate to their heirs.
• Individuals or institutions that hold equitable title over estate property and manage estate assets in the beneficiary's best interest.
• Corporations.  Financial institutions or corporate banks that operate as executors or trustees of an estate.
• An adult tasked with caring for the deceased’s minor children and managing their assets and until the minors become adults.
• Attorneys.  A lawyer or law firm serving as an estate planner, executor or trustee for beneficiaries.
• Caretakers.  Healthcare workers who carry the power of attorney to make medical and financial decisions for testators before their death.

Breach of Fiduciary Duty in a Nutshell

Fiduciaries owe the highest duty of care in law to act in good faith and loyal to the individuals they represent.

Duty of Care: An exercise of reasonable care and skill when making decisions that affect an estate’s assets, usually carried out by investigating beforehand how their choices will impact the testators and beneficiaries.

Duty to Act in Good Faith and Loyalty: Working honestly while serving the estate’s best interests and placing no other interests above the fidelity owed to the individuals the fiduciary represents.

Fiduciaries found in breach of the above-mentioned duties are subject to civil liability, and Iowa probate courts can remove them from their roles for betraying the trust of the principal.

Breach of Duty Elements in Fiduciary Litigation

Will and trust challengers who enter into fiduciary litigation to have fiduciaries removed or to pursue legal remedies to compensate for lost property must argue and prove the following events took place:

• The defendant owed a fiduciary duty to the testator or to the heir;
• The defendant breach their duty; and
• The defendant’s breach actually and proximately caused damages.

Compelling Estate Accountings

Estate dispute litigation often compels fiduciaries to provide the courts with a formal accounting of the assets and property they manage.

Motives for pursuing an estate accounting include investigations of larceny, commingling of assets, conversion or misappropriation of property or fraud among fiduciary transactions.

The skilled estate litigation authorities at the Smith Law Firm can obtain court-ordered accountings from fiduciaries to determine if breaches of duty exist that call for their removal.

How to Execute a Will in Iowa

Properly executed wills in Iowa follow four strict formalities:

1. The will must be in writing.
2. Testators must sign the document.
3. Testators must disclose the testamentary document is their last will.
4. Two competent witnesses over sixteen years of age must sign the will in the presence of the testator.

Heirs often challenge wills that do not follow the above mentioned probate rules, and the courts regularly invalidate such testamentary documents for improper execution.

Verifying Testamentary Documents

Iowa probate courts accept wills from other states as long as they adhere to the probate rules of the state where the testator executed the document.

The courts will likewise accept nuncupative (oral) wills or holographic (handwritten) documents, but only if the witnesses have signed the will and if the testamentary document strictly follows Iowa’s probate formalities.

The improper execution estate litigators at Smith Law hold years of practice in attacking or defending out-of-state testamentary documents and in scrutinizing unique wills to discover if they’re valid.

Breach of fiduciary duty often calls for removal of the fiduciary and imposes civil liability on the wrongdoer to remedy financial losses incurred or damages to property.

Yes. Wills can assign beneficiaries (wife or children) the task of managing assets and settling estates—it’s quite common, and the courts will only remove beneficiaries from their fiduciary roles if they breach their duties owed to the other heirs.