What is a “Fiduciary” anyway? According to Pennsylvania’s Probate, Estate and Fiduciary Code, a fiduciary “includes personal representatives, guardians, and trustees, whether domiciliary or ancillary, individual or corporate, or is subject to the jurisdiction of the orphans’ court division” (20 Pa. Stat. and Cons. Stat. Ann. Section  102). Black’s Law Dictionary refines this definition as “Someone who is required to act for the benefit of another person on all matters within the scope of their relationship; one who owes to another the duties of good faith, loyalty, due care, and disclosure or someone who must exercise a high standard of care in managing another’s money or property,” (Black’s Law Dictionary 743 [10th ed. 2014]).

There are many different types of fiduciaries to be appointed in even the most basic estate plan, but most people have no idea what specific acts their fiduciaries will be asked to perform. As a trust and estate attorney, I always recommend three documents to all my estate planning clients: a will, a power of attorney, and a durable power of attorney for health care and advance health care directive. The following describes the three basic documents that every person should have, as well as the associated fiduciaries. My goal is to better inform the reader so that they can feel empowered rather than confused when tackling the difficult topics involved in estate planning.