“For every wrong there is a remedy” When a conservatee or beneficiary asserts a legal claim against a
fiduciary, it will be based on a wrong they have purportedly suffered. The court’s analysis of that claim
will always involve certain steps: What duties, if any, does the fiduciary owe to the complaining person?
Was there a breach of any of those duties? What is the consequence for the breach? We will review
the fundamental duties that a fiduciary generally owes; discuss the specific duties that are owed by
conservators, personal representatives and trustees; and discuss the consequence — legal and
professional — for breaching those duties. We will also discuss and offer practical solutions for avoiding
liability.
EB5 – When It Hits The Fan: Consequences For Breaching Fiduciary Duties, And How To Avoid Doing It
Speakers
Brian Sakarata
Soloway Fiduciaries Inc.
https://www.solowayfiduciaries.com/
In four years, Brian acquired both his B.A. in Economics and his M.S. in Applied Economics and Finance from UC Santa Cruz. He focused on computational finance and his thesis utilized artificial inte ligence algorithms to develop zero-delta portfolios.
While in college, he interned at a boutique financial planning firm, and after graduation, he worked at a public accounting firm that specialized in tax returns and tax consulting for private equity real estate investment structures. He then acquired his Enrolled Agent license with the IRS and opened a local tax practice that specialized in multi-state passthrough taxation and 501(c)(3) compliance. In 2018 he moved to Walnut Creek and was hired by Soloway Fiduciaries, and in less than a year he attained the California Professional Fiduciary License.
Brian is a passionate behavioral economics geek. He enjoys outlining choice architecture, focusing on situations with lack of information, inaccurate information, bias, and personality heuristics. To fully complete the choice architecture, he uses Bayesian statistics to assess the risk that ideal outcomes may be undermined to alternative choice paths. His passion can be surprisingly helpful; it a lows for a preemptive defense against malicious attempts to undermine fiduciary administrations or other vulnerable situations.
Paul Epstein, Esq.
Acuna Regli
https://acunaregli.com/
Paul D. Epstein is an associate attorney with AcuñaRegli where he represents professional and lay fiduciaries in Trust, Estate and Conservatorship administration and litigation. He also represents clients on either side of the “v” in Trust and Will contests, partition, and quiet title lawsuits. He has served as a court-appointed Personal Representative, Guardian Ad Litem and Special Master. Before joining Acuña*Regli in 2018, he was an associate in the Triay Law Office for more than 10 years. He is a 1999 graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law, and was admitted to the State Bar in that year.