Protect Your Assets: Working With Professional Fiduciary Financial Advisors

Fiduciary financial advisors are professionals who can help you protect your assets.

As an Estate and Asset Protection Attorney who creates legal documents for my clients, I also often work closely with my clients’ fiduciary financial advisors. The goal of such professionals is to protect your assets.

It is not uncommon for high worth individuals and companies to have a team of advisors helping them protect assets. That team might include estate planning attorneys, tax attorneys, accountants, bankers, and financial advisors.

Many of my clients don’t have teams of advisors, but most do work with financial advisors. As such, I am frequently asked to recommend these professionals. I always recommend that people work with a fiduciary financial advisor. Many people are not familiar with the term, so I will explain the difference between a fiduciary and non-fiduciary financial advisor as well as what they can do and the anticipated cost of working with a fiduciary.

A fiduciary is a professional duty with legal requirements that also cover how they carry out protecting assets.

Fiduciary duty is the requirement that certain professionals, like lawyers or financial advisors, work in the best financial interest of their clients. U.S. law dictates that members of certain professions who are doing business for certain clients be bound by fiduciary duty. Not all financial advisors are fiduciaries.

When it comes to money management, there are two standards of care that apply. The Fiduciary Standard and the Suitability Standard. There are slight but meaningful differences. The fiduciary standard requires the professional to act in the best interest of their clients, while the suitability standard is just that. It requires that a financial advisor make recommendations that are suitable for the needs of the client.

Fiduciary financial advisors have two key duties.

When trusted with managing a client’s money, fiduciary financial advisors have two key duties: the Duty of Care and Duty of Loyalty.

Duty of Care

Under the duty of care, fiduciaries must make informed business decisions after reviewing available information with a critical eye. Financial advisors might fulfill this by analyzing comprehensive information about your financial life before making recommendations or plans. Directors of companies, on the other hand, might consult industry experts and maintain detailed records and best practices for the company.

Duty of Loyalty

To abide by the duty of loyalty, fiduciaries must not have any undisclosed economic or personal conflict of interest. They cannot use their position to further their private interests. Fiduciary financial advisors might adhere to the duty of loyalty by disclosing any recommendations they’ll receive a commission on.

Wondering how to find a fiduciary financial advisor?

Finding a fiduciary financial advisor does not have to be a difficult task.

You can go about it the way you would find any professional from a doctor or dentist to a general contractor or handyman. Ask friends and co-workers. Ask your dentist or doctor. Ask your banker, your lawyer, anyone you trust if they know a fiduciary financial advisor or if they work with one. Of course, you can search online as well. Once you have someone in mind, check references, and if you feel so inclined, run a background check. Then, interview your potential candidates and work with the one with whom you feel understands your objectives and can help you achieve them.

Once you’ve established a relationship with your financial advisor, you may want to take that next step and establish an estate and asset protection plan, if you haven’t already done so.

If you do have one and you would like your financial advisor to review it, that’s a great idea too. As I mentioned earlier, we are accustomed to working with our clients’ financial advisors. We would be happy to become part of your trusted team of advisors. Give my office a call at 404-370-0696 and let’s discuss your current estate and asset protection needs.

Looking to find an experienced estate lawyer in the Georgia area who is skilled in asset protection and estate plan preparation? Shannon Pawley is an attorney in Georgia with expertise in estate planning and asset protection. Shannon can provide assistance with creating an estate plan to include making a will and how to establish a trust properly. If you have questions about asset protection or questions about making an estate plan, reach out to Shannon and she will be glad to help answer all the estate planning questions you might have!

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Stacy McKenzie

21:58 07 Feb 24

Shannon and her team were great. Went in for a consultation and got my money worth. She explained and made sure we understood. I will be using them in the future.

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23:10 24 Jan 24

Waheed Hamid

18:55 17 Dec 23

We had excellent service from Shannon and her team, they are true professionals and helped us and explained every step in the process. We highly recommend The Estate and Asset Protection Law Firm.

Virgil Price Young

20:16 18 Jul 23

Stephanie Deal

15:22 07 Jul 23

My father and I recently used the estate, an asset protection, law, firm for new wheels, new, power of attorney’s, and a creation of a trust. Brooke and her entire team could not have been more helpful and more professional! We loved working with them, and they took everything seriously therefore I didn’t have to worry about a thing. I highly recommend everyone at the law firm.

Barry Amos

01:22 01 Jul 23

Great firm. Had answers to all our questions and explained everything clearly. Never felt rushed to make a decision Could not ask for a better experience. Every one we dealt with was professional and knowledgeable. We highly recommend this firm for estate planning.

Lee Jay

21:30 28 Jun 23

Shannon provided invaluable information regarding a family estate matter. Although her firm did not quite fit our immediate needs, the consultation was informative and extremely HELPFUL! Shannon clearly explained what our next steps should be and offered to assist if we had any questions along the way. Her expertise and willingness to help puts her in a league of her own!

Alice Guppy

02:01 23 Jan 23

Shannon and everyone at The Estate and Asset Protection Law Firm are professional, very knowledgeable, and a pleasure to work with. They answered all our questions in great detail and the plan they developed for us is exactly what we need to protect our assets and estate as we age especially with my husband's health issues.

Lynn McKibbin-Moore

23:09 24 Feb 22

My husband has dementia. This firm has been patient, kind and professional while we went through a move from a house of 37 years in to a condo to be closer to my daughter and her husband. (Miami to Atlanta). There was also a wedding. All in 6 months.We now have a trust, power of attorney. Wills for my daughter and her husband and more. All at a fair price. I could not recommend higher.

Tammy Lee

22:03 29 Jan 22

Shannon Pawley and her team are exceptional at helping families navigate tough situations. We began working with her upon finding out my father had Stage 4 kidney cancer. His decline was more rapid than expected.Attorney Pawley and her entire team expedited paperwork that allowed me to focus on my father’s care, make decisions that suddenly needed to be made for him medically and financially, and has allowed me the ability to focus more on grieving and less on legal matters upon his passing.It is obvious she is knowledgeable about the best ways to navigate estates to protect the assets for the owners and their loved ones. It is just as obvious that she is passionate and has true heart for what her clients go through.We will be using her for own estate needs, and I recommend her expertise to everybody I can.This service is worth every penny we paid as it has saved us more money and time than I could imagine.

H Jessie Brewer

18:26 18 Nov 21

Attorney Shannon Pawley and paralegal Alexis McCoy are legal professionals that my wife and I highly recommend. Their grasp of the Georgia law pertaining to Medicaid assistance and the interworking's of the State department is exceptional. Additionally, their client-attorney relationship skills are excellent. We wouldn't hesitate to use this law firm again should the need arise.

Dawn Hardy

15:06 13 Nov 21

Shannon and her team are the best! They listened to my needs and provided the best advice. They are patient and professional as well as personable, they didn't make me feel like I was just another client. Highly recommend!