Anyone who accepts the position of being a trustee assumes the responsibility of trustees including monetary payor insurance on trust assets and investing according to the prudent trustor's needs. For example, it is alright for a fiduciary to pay for cabs and possibly a car and drive to take the beneficiary shopping, but it is not O.K. for a fiduciary to buy a new Rolls Royce at the expense of the beneficiary using the Rolls two hours per week to take the beneficiary shopping and using the Rolls the rest of the week for the fiduciary's personal living. If the evidence is clear and the amount of money is significant, police and prosecutors will sometimes prosecute financial abuse cases against fiduciaries. In most cases, the police and district attorneys simply do not have the investigative resources to gather the necessary evidence. Sometimes they will prosecute after the will challenger or trust challenger gathers evidence for them.
Fiduciaries can have both civil and criminal liability.
Undue influence might be valid grounds for attacking a gift or a will. Undue influence is sometimes called overreaching. It usually means that there was overt persuasion, duress, force or coercion, or fraudulent misrepresentation made which created a lack of willpower. If a person was under undue influence when executing a will or a trust, the beneficiary might not be able to inherit. Lack of capacity refers to lack of mental ability.