What is Fiduciary Duty?

Breach of fiduciary duty is a broad concept that may arise in many differ-
ent situations. However, three questions necessarily arise when any breach
of fiduciary duty is alleged:

1. Did a fiduciary relationship exist at the time of the alleged mis-
   conduct?
   

2. Ifso,whatwasthescopeoftherelationship?
   

3. Wasthereabreachofthedutiesthatarosewithinthescopeofthe
   

   relationship?
   

There are two types of fiduciary relationships:

1. Thosecreatedunderthelaw,(a)asappliedtoparticularrelation-
   ships governed by statute (such as partner and partnership) or by
   legal proceedings (such as administrator and heir), or (b) as ap-
   plied to contractual relationships (such as principal and agent or
   attorney and client); and
   

2. Those that are created by case law as a result of the factual cir-
   cumstances underlying the relationship of the parties and the trans-
   actions at issue. These types of unique fiduciary duties occur in
   various factual circumstances.1 While there is no definitive de-
   scription of a fiduciary relationship, one source describes it as:
   

[T]he acting of one person for another; the having and the exercis-
ing of influence over one person by another; the reposing of con-
fidence by one person in another; the dominance of one person by
another; the inequality of the parties; and the dependence of one
person upon another. In addition, courts have considered weak-
ness of age, mental strength, business intelligence, knowledge of
the facts involved or other conditions giving to one an advantage
over the other.2

Read more at: https://pi.vu/66-Y