Fiduciary

A fiduciary is a person who holds a legal or ethical relationship of trust with one or more other parties (legal person or group of persons). Typically, a fiduciary prudently takes care of money or other assets for another person... In such a relation, good conscience requires the fiduciary to act at all times for the sole benefit and interest of the one who trusts.... A fiduciary duty[5] is the highest standard of care in equity or law. A fiduciary is expected to be extremely loyal to the person to whom he owes the duty (the "principal") such that there must be no conflict of duty between fiduciary and principal (principal-agent problem), and the fiduciary must not profit from their position as a fiduciary,[6] unless the principal consents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiduciary

• When a fiduciary duty is imposed, equity requires a different, stricter standard of behavior than the comparable tortious duty of care in common law. The fiduciary has a duty not to be in a situation where personal interests and fiduciary duty conflict, not to be in a situation where their fiduciary duty conflicts with another fiduciary duty, and a duty not to profit from their fiduciary position without knowledge and consent. A fiduciary ideally would not have a conflict of interest. It has been said that fiduciaries must conduct themselves "at a level higher than that trodden by the crowd"[12] and that "[t]he distinguishing or overriding duty of a fiduciary is the obligation of undivided loyalty".
• The corporate law of Delaware is the most influential in the United States, as more than 50% of publicly traded companies in the United States, including 64% of the Fortune 500, have chosen to incorporate in that state.[17] Under Delaware law, officers, directors and other control persons of corporations and other entities owe three primary fiduciary duties, (1) the duty of care, (2) the duty of loyalty and (3) the duty of good faith.*

re: financial planning/financial planner (per Google Gemini): “Fee-only” describes how an advisor is paid, while “fiduciary duty” describes how an advisor is legally and ethically required to act.While they are separate concepts, they are deeply intertwined: a fee-only structure is widely considered the cleanest way to uphold a fiduciary duty because it removes the financial incentives that cause conflicts of interest... Fiduciary Duty: A strict legal obligation to act solely in the client’s best interests at all times. Under the duty of loyalty, a fiduciary must consciously avoid or fully disclose any conflicts of interest. Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) regulated by the SEC and Certified Financial Planner (CFP) professionals are bound by this standard.Fee-Only: A business model where the advisor is compensated 100% directly by the client. This payment can be an hourly rate, a flat project fee, a monthly retainer, or a percentage of Assets Under Management (AUM). They are strictly prohibited from accepting commissions, kickbacks, referral fees, or revenue-sharing from mutual fund or insurance companies.

re: healthcare (also Google Gemini): A physician’s relationship with a patient is a fiduciary relationship, meaning a doctor has a legal and ethical duty of loyalty to place the patient's health interests above all else.However, this creates severe legal and ethical friction because physicians also owe a duty of loyalty to their employers (hospitals, health systems, or insurance companies) under employment and agency law. When an employer's financial goals clash with a patient's care needs, the physician faces a direct conflict of interest... When these duties collide, the fiduciary duty to the patient legally and ethically overrides the duty to the employer.Courts have repeatedly ruled that a corporate employer's administrative or financial policies cannot compel a physician to violate the medical standard of care... As a general rule under U.S. common law, hospitals do not owe a general fiduciary duty to patients in the same way individual physicians do. Instead, the legal relationship between a hospitalized patient and a hospital is governed by a standard of reasonable care (negligence law) and contractual obligations, rather than a strict common-law fiduciary duty of loyalty.

See AI, Agents, and Fiduciary Duty