Most wealth managers are sometimes burdened by their own clients secrets and deceptions. The biggest problems arise in the course of a bad divorce. Financial advisors can avoid some of these problems by getting a full credit report to uncover hidden assets and liabilities. Fraud can also become a problem when a client or a third party deceives the client to obtain a large inheritance. For example, in one instance, the attorney of the executor of the estate noticed that the executor was moving large amounts of money from a trust account to his personal account. The client claimed that he deserved to be paid, and the attorney thought that he acted fraudulently. So the attorney ended the relationship. Sometimes the problems are purely emotional and have nothing to do with fraud or deception. Regardless of the source, it is important to attorneys and other planners to maintain due diligence in representing their clients and gathering information about their clients.
See Janice Fioravante, Secrets and Lies, Financial Planning, July 1, 2012.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse(Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
