(Formerly Standard 12)
PGTS Standard
14. The fiduciary has appropriate documents of title or ownership for all trust and estate assets. [PGTS]
Documents of Ownership
If your organization accepts fiduciary responsibilities on behalf of members/donors and there are vehicles, mobile homes, and/or real estate involved, standard #14 applies when the estate planning documents contain the appointment of your organization as an immediate fiduciary. Most often, these estate planning fiduciary appointments are found in trust agreements.
Your organization may be listed in the documents as a contingent fiduciary, in which case being an actual fiduciary may or may not happen in the future. In this case, standard #14 does not apply when there is no current fiduciary responsibility and having the ownership documentation is not required. If your organization may serve as the fiduciary in the future, you will need to collect the appropriate documents of ownership for all assets the trust or estate has put your organization in charge. When your organization assumes fiduciary responsibilities, then the appropriate ownership documents must be collected and placed in the donor file.
Conclusion
The reason for the fiduciary organization needing these ownership documents on file when assuming responsibility is, so the organization will know what assets they are responsible for and have the appropriate documentation to be able to carry out their fiduciary duties. How can your organization avoid having to collect and store all these ownership documents? The easiest way is not to accept any fiduciary responsibility. Be a beneficiary rather than a fiduciary.