What are the fiduciary duties of former spouses during a divorce in Jefferson County or Louisville? What is a fiduciary duty?
Generally speaking, a fiduciary duty is the legal responsibility to act in the other’s best interest. It requires the highest legal standard of “fair dealing” and “good faith.” Each party will be held to this high standard of acting in the other party’s best interest in all financial related matters including financial transactions, banking, credit card management, investment and retirement account management and all financial transactions with each other as well as outside of the “marital.”
Some of the fiduciary duties include providing access to each other to any “books” or financial records and receipts associated with any transactions including the right of inspection and copying.
You must account to one another as “trustees” regarding any benefit or profit obtained by either spouse without the knowledge or consent of the other if it affects or is considered to be marital property (i.e. tax refunds).
The fiduciary duties of former spouses during a divorce include making a full, accurate, honest, transparent disclosure of all assets and debts. Each party has a fiduciary duty to carefully manage both marital and separate property.
This is most strictly applied when one spouse is managing the separate property of another spouse (such as a separately owned rental property or inheritance). The fiduciary duty of each spouse is the same as the duty required of business partners in Kentucky.
The violation of your fiduciary duties will have a substantially negative impact on the division of marital property, as well as your credibility in every other aspect of the divorce including child custody, maintenance and child support.
If you are considering a divorce in Jefferson County or Louisville you need to be aware of the fiduciary duties of former spouses during your divorce. We invite you to review the recommendations of our clients and contact Dodd & Dodd or call 502-584-1108 to schedule an appointment with one of our experienced attorneys.
