Representing Fiduciaries: Legal Ethics for Counsel and Pitfalls to Avoid

BarbriSFCourseDetails

Course Details

Course Information

smart_display Format
On-Demand
signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
work Practice Area
Ethics

Date & Time

event Date
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
timer Program Length
90 minutes

Credit Information

This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
An excellent opportunity to earn Ethics CLE credits. Note: BARBRI cannot guarantee that this course will be approved for ethics credits in all states. To confirm, please contact our CLE department at pdservice@barbri.com.

$197.00

This CLE webinar will provide attorneys an in-depth analysis of ethical risks of representing fiduciaries and offer strategies to overcome challenges relating to such representation. The panel will discuss critical fiduciary risks attorneys must understand, fee agreements and disclosures, navigating confidentiality issues, conflicts of interest, and other key items to minimize potential liability.

Faculty

Matthew A. Bourque

Managing Attorney

RMO, LLP

Mr. Bourque serves as Managing Attorney of RMO LLP’s Dallas and Houston offices. He focuses his practice on representing heirs, beneficiaries, fiduciaries, creditors, and other interested parties in contested probate, trust, guardianship, and financial elder abuse cases. Mr. Bourque primarily handles probate litigation matters including will contests, fiduciary litigation to recover misfunded, misapplied or misappropriated estate and trust funds, community property claims, executor and trustee removal proceedings, compelled distribution of estate and trust assets, trust accounting lawsuits, competing applications for guardianship, and establishment of common-law marriage and adoption-by-estoppel. He also has significant experience handling commercial litigation incidental to probate matters.

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Meghan M. Glaspy

Managing Partner

RMO, LLP

Ms. Glaspy is the Managing Partner in the Orange County office. Having previously served as a Deputy District Attorney, she brings extensive trial experience and has worked closely with clients through complex and emotionally-charged disputes. Ms. Glaspy brings that experience to RMO where she focuses her practice on probate disputes, including will and trust contests, breach of fiduciary duty claims, financial elder abuse protection, and contested conservatorships, representing beneficiaries, as well as individual, professional and corporate fiduciaries (administrators, executors, trustees and conservators).

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Description

Attorneys providing services to fiduciaries may result in a variety of ethical issues. Counsel must adhere to various state rules, understand best practices for fees, maintain guidelines for handling conflicts of interest, and address other challenges that will arise.

The importance of identifying ethical issues is essential when representing fiduciaries, such as trustees, executors, advisers, and guardians. Attorneys have to explore the complexities of balancing duties to the fiduciary as the client while also adhering to their responsibilities to the practice of law, such as (1) the duty of loyalty and confidentiality; (2) conflicts of interest between fiduciaries and beneficiaries; (3) handling disputes involving fiduciaries while maintaining compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct; and (4) advising fiduciaries on their legal and ethical responsibilities.

Listen as our panel discusses obligations and risks for fiduciaries, identifying who is being represented, ethical risks concerning third-party payors, and other key items to minimize potential liability.