ABA Trust and Fiduciary Advisor Exam Syllabus

• What it means to be a fiduciary
• Different fiduciary standards (e.g., 1940 Act, Regulation Best Interest,Uniform Trust Code)
• Fiduciary standard versus suitability standard
• The prudent investor rule
• OCC Reg 12 CFR 9

• Powers
• Duties (e.g., loyalty, confidentiality, to inform and report)
• Accountability (e.g., who assumes/is ascribed fiduciary responsibility)
• Uniform Acts/Codes (e.g., UPIA, UTC)
• Disclosure of compensation
• Safekeeping of Assets
• Environmental Issues
• Breach of duty and liability
• Undue influence

• Types of joint ownership (e.g., joint tenancy with right of survivorship [JTWROS], tenancy in common [TIC], tenancy by the entirety [TBE])
• Community property versus separate property
• Business entities (e.g., sole proprietor, partnership(s), LLC, corporation(s))
• Controlling document (e.g., beneficiary designations, transfer on death[TOD], payable on death [POD])
• Powers of appointment

Skill in:

• Planning with a power of appointment

• Goals
• Time horizon
• Risk tolerance
• Income sources
• Net worth
• Review of a client’s tax return
• Budget
• Cash flow analysis
• Debt management
• Monte Carlo simulations
• Educational planning
• Insurance types and usage

• Life insurance (e.g., wealth replacement, Buy/Sell, investment)
• Health insurance
• Disability insurance
• Long-term care insurance
• Homeowner’s insurance
• Property and casualty insurance
• Umbrella insurance

• Types of IRAs, qualified plans, and non-qualified plans
• Beneficiary designations (i.e., trusts, spouse, non-spouse)
• Inherited qualified plans
• Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)
• Ability to withdraw
• Penalties for early withdrawals
• Qualified charitable distribution (QCD)
• Required minimum distributions
• Rollovers, direct rollover & trustee-to-trustee transfer
• Social Security
• Medicare

• Client goals
• Probate versus non-probate assets
• Powers of appointment
• Incapacity (e.g., definition of elderly and vulnerable adults, changes inbehavior of and competence/capacity client, trustee, co-trustee and beneficiaries)
• Disclaimers (e.g., elements, strategies, consequences)
• Power to decant/reform
• Gifting techniques for trust and individuals to optimize transfer tax planning (e.g., GSTT, annual exclusion, payments directly to institution, 529 Plan 5 Year election and lifetime exemption)
• Charitable giving options to optimize transfer tax planning (e.g., Testamentary and Split Interest Solutions)
• Charitable deduction eligibility (i.e., cash, in-kind, private or public)
• Planning and administering for clients with special needs (e.g.,ABLE, supplemental, special needs trust)
• Business succession planning
• Educational planning

• Trusts
• Estates
• Agencies
• Guardianships/conservatorships
• Custodians

• Trustee’s duties and powers
• Grantor (i.e., role, powers)
• Trust protector
• Directed trustee
• Financial power of attorney (e.g., durable, general, springing)
• Control person(s) (e.g., organizational agency, general partners)

• Revocable trusts
• Irrevocable trusts
• Spousal Lifetime Access Trust (SLAT)
• Marital trusts (e.g., QTIP, QDOT)
• Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILIT)
• Charitable interest trusts (e.g., CRUT, CRAT, CLAT, CLUT)
• Dynasty trust
• Intentionally Defective Trusts (e.g., IDGT, BDIT)
• Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT)

• Uniform Trust Code (UTC)
• Trust interests (e.g., current, remainder, vested)
• Understanding beneficiary financial situation
• Dispositive provisions
• Mandatory and discretionary distributions
• Ascertainable standards (i.e., Health, Education, Maintenance, Support)
• Power to adjust
• Unitrust and annuity calculations
• Rights of withdrawal
• Crummey powers
• Powers of appointment
• Spendthrift
• Termination (e.g., rule against perpetuity, uneconomic, age of attainment)

• Uniform Principal and Income Act (UPIA)
• Governing document versus statutory guidelines
• Distribution criteria (i.e., principal, income, both)
• Fee calculation and allocation
• Overdraft management
• Income (e.g., interest, royalty, rental), dividends, and capital gains
• Taxes

• Individual income tax forms (e.g., 1040, 1099(s), K1)
• Review of a client’s Form 1040
• Marginal tax rate vs. effective tax rate
• Capital Gains (e.g., short- and long-term holding periods and rates)
• Tax efficient management (e.g., Tax loss harvesting, wash sale rule, municipal bonds)
• Cost basis (i.e., step-up, step-down)
• Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT)

• Fiduciary tax forms (e.g., 1041, 706, 990)
• Simple versus complex
• Grantor trusts
• Distributable net income (DNI)
• 65-day rule
• Fiscal and calendar year end filings
• Right of withdrawal power
• Treatment of capital gains

Skill in:

• Calculating DNI
• Determining the filing dates for tax reporting (e.g., fiscal, 65-day, calendar yearend)

• Taxable versus nontaxable estate assets
• Estate tax and exemption
• Gift tax annual exclusion and exemption
• Portability
• Marital and charitable deductions
• Payment of taxes (i.e., responsible party, timing of payment)
• Income in respect of a decedent (IRD)

Skill in:

• Calculating the value of the gross estate

• GSTT (i.e., exempt trusts, non-exempt trusts)
• Skip persons/trusts
• Taxable distributions
• Taxable termination

• Equities
• Fixed income
• Mutual funds
• ETFs
• Alternative assets (e.g., private equity, hedge funds, closely held businesses)
• Real estate and farms
• Unique assets (e.g., oil, gas, minerals, collectibles)
• Digital assets (e.g., social media accounts, photographs, collectibles)

• Prudent investor rule
• Time horizon
• Liquidity needs
• Asset allocation
• Concentration of assets
• Risk types (e.g., market risk, liquidity risk, credit risk)
• Trust provisions (e.g., distribution terms, current and remainder beneficiary, special investment terms)
• Environmental, social, and governance (ESG)

• Economic cycles
• Monetary policy (e.g., interest rates, quantitative easing/tightening)
• Inflation
• Fiscal policy (e.g., taxation, contraction)
• Gross domestic product
• International currency markets

• Modern portfolio theory
• Tax efficient management (e.g., tax loss harvesting, wash sale rule, municipal bonds)
• Dollar cost averaging
• Equity investment management approaches (e.g., active versus passive, growth versus value)
• Fixed income investment management approaches (e.g., active versus passive, funds versus individual)
• Hedging strategies (e.g., hedge funds, options, futures)

• Time-weighted versus dollar-weighted
• Benchmarks and indices
• Risk adjusted

• Know Your Client (KYC)
• Identity of beneficial owners, beneficiaries, and other interested parties
• Foreign clients, trustees, and beneficiaries
• Capacity
• OFAC
• Due diligence
• Enhanced due diligence situations
• Unique assets
• Concentrated assets
• Environmental site assessment and compliance with Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act(CERCLA)
• Written agreements and direction letters
• Trust Situs
• Governing law
• Resignation/acceptance

• Self-dealing
• Gifts to and from clients and vendors
• Business solicitation
• Compensation arrangements
• Related parties and affiliates
• Proprietary investments
• Insider Information

• Unauthorized practice of law
• Limitation of tax advice
• Other trusted advisors and designations (e.g., trust protectors, directed advisor, attorney)

• Regulation 9, initial review, administrative review (e.g., synoptic record, distributions, beneficiary statements)
• Investment Review (e.g., Investment policy statement, asset allocation, concentration)