Fiduciary Responsibility

[pixmax]

If our Firm receives a fee to deposit contributions do we have a Fiduciary Responsibility? Let's say we know deposits are not being deposited by a certain time or if we missplace a deposit etc?

[MoJo]

If our Firm receives a fee to deposit contributions do we have a Fiduciary Responsibility? Let's say we know deposits are not being deposited by a certain time or if we missplace a deposit etc?

If you are handling the money in any way but the most ministerial fashion, then I would argue you do have fiduciary responsibility. If you have the power to "missplace" a deposit, I would suggest you have more than a ministerial function.

[TPApril]

different but related scenario, similar concept - trying to determine if there is a fiduciary or simply ministerial role here:

client faxes tpa a copy of the biweekly payroll indicating 401k and match deposit amounts. tpa logs onto tpa accessible website of investment company, enters contribution amounts by participant, and then enters total deposit amount to request transfer of dollar amount, as preauthorized by client from client bank account. Is there any concern that that last step may be treated as handling money or going beyond ministerial role?