Q My concern is that a homeowner and a prior trustee has her own property management company. And recently, our board of trustees hired her to manage our community.  That would be perfectly okay, but it seems that in the past year, this same manager has married a board member. I am very concerned about the potential for conflicts of interest occurring.  I would appreciate your thoughts on this situation. Do you think we’re going to have a problem?

—-Conflicted and Concerned in Linden

A “There is a statute on this in the Not For Profit Corporations Act. There is no issue if it's disclosed,” states Stephen B. Kotzas, an attorney and partner with the law firm of Berry, Sahradnik, Kotzas & Benson in Toms River. “The conflict of interest policy assists directors, officers and others in the organization in identifying, evaluating and resolving conflicts of interest. A conflict of interest arises where a board member, management or other decision-maker has an outside interest or relationship that conflicts or may conflict with his or her ability to act strictly in the interests of the organization. For example, a board member is said to be conflicted where the not-for-profit organization is considering a commercial transaction with another company in which the board member has a financial interest.”