THE MEANING OF CHATELAINE
Keeper of the Keys
A chatelaine was both a trusted role and a visible ring or chain of keys — a sign that someone had been entrusted to open, order, and protect what mattered.
HISTORICAL CHATELAINE
What is a Chatelaine?
The name is old, but the responsibility is familiar.
chatelaine — historically, the woman entrusted with the keys of a household, estate, or castle; later, the chain or ring worn at the waist to hold those keys close at hand.
She knew what each key opened, what needed to be protected, and who depended on the household being managed with steadiness and care.
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That meaning stayed with me. Fiduciary work is not simply paperwork, bill paying, or court reports. It is stewardship. It is being trusted with access — to a person’s home, records, wishes, relationships, medical realities, finances, and legacy — and understanding that access is never casual.
The keys in the Chatelaine Fiduciary mark represent that trust. The shield represents the duty to guard it. Together, they remind me why this work must be done carefully, discreetly, and with respect for the person at the center of every decision.
A fiduciary does not own the keys. She is entrusted to hold them faithfully.
A PERSONAL CALLING
My path to fiduciary work
began inside my own family.
Before I ever held a professional license, I saw what happens when a family has clarity, trust, and a shared commitment to honoring a loved one’s wishes.
Both of my grandmothers lived with dementia, and had advanced healthcare directives. And in both situations, those directives gave our family something incredibly valuable: a foundation for making hard decisions with less confusion and conflict, and more peace.
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My maternal grandmother spent the last six years of her life in a skilled nursing facility in Northern California. My aunt held financial power of attorney and shared medical power of attorney with my mother. Our family was spread across the country but we were united around one priority: honoring my grandmother’s wishes and protecting her comfort.
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Doctors told us they wished they could study our family, because we did not follow the end-of-life conflict patterns they so often saw. For us, the concern was not our discomfort, but her comfort. We knew we would miss her. We also knew how to love her in the last moments of her life, with peace, dignity, and respect for her expressed wishes.
Jennifer Skidmore, NCG
CEO | Chatelaine Fiduciary
LICENSE
California PFB #1582
CREDENTIAL
Nationally Certified Guardian
BASED IN
Lancaster, California
SERVICE REACH
Serving Clients Nationwide
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"A fiduciary protects the person, wishes, and legacy behind them."
Jennifer Skidmore, NCG
A Trusted Professional in
Fiduciary Care
At Chatelaine Fiduciary, we provide professional, objective oversight for individuals and families navigating complex personal and financial responsibilities.
Our role is simple: to act with integrity, clarity, and accountability—ensuring that every decision is made in the best interest of those we serve.
Why This Work Matters
Fiduciary work often comes at difficult moments—times of transition, uncertainty, or when families are facing important decisions.
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In these moments, objectivity matters. Experience matters. Steady guidance matters.
We provide a disciplined, thoughtful approach that helps protect not only assets—but people, relationships, and long-term outcomes.
Our Approach
• Objective and unbiased decision-making
• Careful, disciplined financial oversight
• Respect for individuals and families
• Clear communication and accountability
Faithful Stewardship. Trusted Guardian.
Shielding Your Legacy.
CAREGIVING BECAME CONVICTION
I learned what stewardship looks like up close.
My paternal grandmother had owned and administrated a skilled nursing facility. Later, after she sold the facility and created her trust, I moved into her home to help care for her.
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During that season, Tom Kestler— then a partner at Derryberry & Kestler & Associates and a fellow member of a local Kiwanis club— encouraged me to explore private fiduciary work.​​ After Tom retired, Steven Derryberry continued that encouragement.
Family caregiving became a professional calling: standing in the gap when someone needs protection, structure, and accountable decision-making.
PREPARATION THROUGH EVERY TURN
The Path That Prepared Me
My path was not linear, but every turn prepared me: horses, SCI, advocacy, and teaching.
In 2001, I earned my B.S. from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Agricultural Business — Farm & Ranch Management and an Equine Science minor — “a degree in horse racing,” as I called it. My first job was Horseman’s Liaison at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.
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If you have wondered about the rearing horse on the Chatelaine shield — horses were my first profession and first love. They taught patience, steadiness, attentiveness. The work changed. The horse stayed.
It never left. One trust client owned a working horse ranch. She passed away in September 2025, and I continue administering her trust exactly as she asked — including stewardship of more than twenty horses. I have cared for them for approximately three years. She trusted me to keep her promise to them, and I do.
On July 17, 2000, at Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, moving 45 bales of alfalfa — more than three tons — bulged two discs by about four millimeters. On August 28, 2001, I was rear-ended and sustained an incomplete spinal cord injury from L3 to L5. The first spinal fusion did not take; a second followed. A third spinal surgery came in 2014, and I am now fused from L1 to L5.
Because horse work is heavy, I left the industry. I earned an A.A. in Aviation Science from Mt. San Antonio College, aimed for air traffic control, and aged out before the FAA offered me a job at 31. Then a fellow Kiwanis Club of Lancaster member, then superintendent of Eastside School District, encouraged me to teach at Cole Middle School. I was good at it, but it was not my calling.
In 2014, I earned Trust Management and Conservatorship Management certificates through Cal State Fullerton’s fiduciary program — and brought both parents with me. All three of us earned the certificates. Since then, I have retaken Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside fiduciary classes several times, earning the certificates roughly three times over. I believe in repetition over reinventing the wheel.
During those years, my maternal grandmother entered skilled nursing care in summer 2010 and passed in January 2016; my paternal grandmother passed in October 2016. I became the family member people turned to: child-free, between jobs, and formally trained.
On April 15, 2014, a client of Tom Kestler’s named me successor trustee. In May 2019, dementia meant she could no longer live alone, and she became my first active fiduciary client. She is still my client today, thriving and caring for her cat — proof that care and structure can preserve years of fulfilled life.
In August 2019, I had a spinal cord stimulator implanted for pain management. California permits up to two fiduciary clients without licensure, and I stayed under that threshold while deepening my practice. In 2025, I passed the California Private Professional Fiduciary exam and became licensee California PFB # 1582. My SCI gives me personal familiarity with medical language, patient advocacy, and healthcare systems.
My background is more Renaissance person than specialist. I like to say I am qualified to teach horses to fly. Which is not a thing. But if CRISPR ever gets around to giving horses wings and makes Pegasus a reality, I have the business plan.
PROFESSIONAL CARE WITH A GUARDIAN'S MINDSET
Meaningful service must be sustainable.
My love language is acts of service. I love protecting people — alive or deceased — from confusion, neglect, exploitation, and bad actors.
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I'm not a volunteer. Fair pay keeps professional fiduciary care trained, licensed, insured, and steady.
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Clarity
Clear authority, documentation, and client-rooted decisions.
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Protection
A watchful eye for vulnerability, conflict, exploitation, and care gaps.
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Accountability
Professional standards, reporting, loyalty, and care.
CREDENTIALS AFTER THE STORY
Qualified and grounded in service.
The story explains why this work matters. The credentials show it is handled professionally.
Trusted Collaboration
Trusted by attorneys, CPAs, social workers, and families throughout California and nationwide.
Professional Qualifications
B.S., Agricultural Business — Cal Poly SLO (Farm & Ranch Management; Equine Science minor)
A.A., Aviation Science — Mt. San Antonio College
Trust and Conservatorship Management certificates — Cal State Fullerton Fiduciary Program (2014; CE at CSUF and UC Riverside)
California License PFB #1582
Nationally Certified Guardian (NCG)
50-state authority — California PFB License, Florida authorization, and Nationally Certified Guardian credentials covering an additional 18 states with 30 states unrestricted.
Member, Kiwanis Club of Lancaster
Member, Kiwanis Club of Palmdale
