The fiduciary responsibility where an agent is entrusted with special trust and confidence is referred to as?

The correct answer is agency, which refers to the fiduciary relationship established when one party, the principal, gives another party, the agent, the authority to act on their behalf in specific matters, particularly in real estate transactions. This relationship is founded on trust and confidence, where the agent must prioritize the interests of the principal above their own.

In agency, the agent undertakes various duties such as loyalty, obedience, disclosure, confidentiality, and accounting. These duties are integral to maintaining the integrity of the relationship and ensuring the agent acts in accordance with the principal's objectives. The special trust and confidence inherent in this relationship differentiates agency from other roles in real estate transactions.

For context, while transactional coordinators primarily manage the administrative aspects of a real estate transaction, and the role of a subagent allows an additional agent to assist in representing the interests of the primary agent, agency specifically encapsulates the overall fiduciary duty where trust is paramount. The term "care" pertains to the diligent handling of the business affairs of the principal but does not encompass the full fiduciary essence that arises from the agency relationship.