Fiduciary Duties

Fiduciary Negligence and breach of a fiduciary duty are different things and it is important to fully understand fiduciary duties and who actually owes you a fiduciary duty are extremely important as many people owe you a Fiduciary duty and you never realise who they are and what their duties are and this is an important piece of information to know as it is very powerful if used correctly.

Any Fiduciary duty is a good faith legal obligation that any Fiduciary owes to another as an integral part of their relationship which may be established by Laws, formally, or as part of a contract or contractual obligation and can be assumed, created informally or implied in law due to moral, social, domestic, or any personal relationship between the parties.
Fiduciaries are either a person or an entity who must act in the best financial interests of the client or to the client’s interest and while it is generally assumed to be a financial benefit but is not limited to a financial duty as any Power of Attorney may include health so can be assumed to be a non financial Fiduciary duty and some examples are:

Client – Attorney
Doctor – Patient
Employer – Employee
Executor – Beneficiary
Trustee – Beneficiary


Common types of Fiduciary are:

Duty of Good Faith – this ensures the Fiduciary puts the interests of the client above their own and any competing or conflicting interests they may have and this ensures the duty of good faith requires the Fiduciary to make any decisions honestly and fairly and for the benefit of the beneficiary or both parties and not for the Fiduciaries benefit to the detriment of the beneficiaries benefit.

Duty of Loyalty – this ensures the Fiduciary puts the benefit of the beneficiary above everyone including themselves and this is generally inextricably linked to the Duty of Good Faith.

Duty of Care – this is when Fiduciary is required to make decisions about their client, not only in good faith but also in a prudent manner which avoids or prevents inflicting injury or damage on the client.

When any breach of Fiduciary duty occurs and causes damage to the principal the Fiduciary may be held liable for damages in Civil court.

Breaches of a Fiduciary duty require four elements to be satisfied and these are:

The parties had a Fiduciary relationship.
The Fiduciary breached a duty to the client.
Damages were sustained to the client.
These damages occurred because of the breach of a Fiduciary duty.

Negligence differs from a breach of a Fiduciary Duty as this is covered by harm and the risks of harm and while they are similar to a breach of a Fiduciary duty they have differing requirements which must be satisfied and these are:

A legal duty of care exists between the parties.
One of the parties breached that duty.
Damages occurred to the party to whom the duty was owed.
The breach of duty caused these damages.

Like a breach of Fiduciary duty, civil liability can arise from negligence that causes damage or injuries and the liability is dependent upon the situation and type of injuries or damage and the type of negligence leading to them as each situation is different. In some circumstances the damage or injuries may be directly or indirectly down to other parties who may be held liable under vicarious liability and these liabilities are defined by a series of legal tests. Vicarious liability may be imposed upon a party through these legal requirements and an example may be a delivery company whose driver causes an accident and injures other party/parties while making deliveries.

Negligence V Duty of Care

While the slightly differing requirements may confuse the average person it is essential to know negligence can occur outside a Fiduciary obligation and simply put negligence alone does not constitute a breach of Fiduciary duty. Motorists do not have a Fiduciary duty to other motorists but they have a legal duty of care while driving on the road and they also have a legal obligation to others of a reasonable care to others while driving on the road, hence the charge of driving without due care and attention which is a legal charge which can be used against motorists.

Contrast this with a financial advisor who has a duty to act in the best interests of his client and is unaware of a lucrative financial investment opportunity because he failed to properly research it then he may be negligent but not necessarily breached his Fiduciary duty but if he invests his clients’ money for his best commission for himself he has breached his duty of loyalty.

While both have different statutes of limitation, penalties for the same offending act it is always prudent to establish exactly what they are before you proceed further.

It is interesting to note who owes you a Fiduciary Duty of care as anyone classed as employee of any Ministerial Department, Public servant/Public office holder are among those owing this duty towards you and this is important to know as many Fiduciary duties are created under statutory law.

Those specifically defined as Public Officers are those undertaking roles for the public or public duties where there is a level of public trust involved.

Lord Mansfield in the case of R v Bembridge defined this as:

an office of trust concerning the public, especially if attended with profit..... by whomever and in whatever way the officer is appointed.

In R v Whittaker the court said:

A public officer holder is an officer who discharges any duty in the discharge of which the public are interested, more clearly so if he is paid out of a fund provided by the public

So we can clearly see that any Council employees, DWP employees and even the police are public servants or public officers as they are paid from public funds.

to add to assassin's Fiduciary list: utility companies, as I think most that come here & read all laid before can see the skullduggery & utimatly theft of 1's own sweat equity.

Well LS

Lord Mansfield in the case of R v Bembridge defined this as:

an office of trust concerning the public, especially if attended with profit..... by whomever and in whatever way the officer is appointed.


They are needed to be trusted by the public and make a profit so yes Fiduciary Duty.

assassin wrote:Well LS

Lord Mansfield in the case of R v Bembridge defined this as:

an office of trust concerning the public, especially if attended with profit..... by whomever and in whatever way the officer is appointed.


They are needed to be trusted by the public and make a profit so yes Fiduciary Duty.

got it.