When you are making decisions on behalf of someone else, the burden of responsibility can be heavy. Over many years we have been supporting professional trustees, family and friends who have duties and responsibilities to care for other people’s money.

Charities

The Charity Commission has stated in July 2015 that it is the legal duty of a trustee to ‘Act with reasonable care and skill’ they state that it is vital that you ‘take appropriate advice when you need to. For example when buying or selling land, or investing (in some cases this is a legal requirement).

The Trustee Act has created the rule book for trustees. They have a:

• Duty to act with reasonable care and skill
• Duty to keep investments under review
• Power of Investment as the same as an individual

To balance this power, the Trustees must have regard to the need for diversification and the suitability of the Trust’s investments and have a duty to keep investments under review; and the need to obtain and consider “proper advice” when making a reviewing investments.

Powers of Attorney and Deputies

The recent case in the matter of Buckley has given the best guidance at this time for Court of Protection deputies and those acting under a power of attorney.

“Until such time as the Office of the Public Guardian issues its own guidance to attorneys and deputies on the investment of funds, I would suggest that, as they have fiduciary obligations that are similar to those of trustees, attorneys should comply with the provisions of the Trustee Act as regards the standard investment criteria and the requirement to obtain and consider proper advice.” – Senior Judge, Denzel Lush. 22nd January 2013

At BWF Consultants, we have many years of experience on advising and supporting clients who have responsibility for other people’s money. We operate a fair fees policy and always agree the charges for our services at the start of any piece of work.

We will be able to provide more details and make a recommendation based on your specific circumstances at BWF Consultants in Lincoln. Contact us for a no-obligation consultation today.

The value of an investment with St. James's Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested.

Power of Attorneys and Trusts are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.