I've been doing some research into literary executors recently, and what I've found is that 1) practically no writers have a will appointing a literary executor, even the organized, businesslike, aware ones that I'd have expected to have them, and 2) there's really very little case law on the whole issue.
And it's potentially really, really complicated. A perfect topic for a bar exam essay question. Copyright now lasts for 70 years after the author's death, which means that your first choice of literary executor (probably your kid, if it's not a professional) is likely to die 20 or 30 years after you do, way before the end of the copyright period, and so you'll name your kid's kid as the follow-up literary executor, but even he/she is likely to die before the end of the copyright period.
Plus, there's the chaos that'll ensue when, in another 60 years, there've been 3 generations of new heirs (and deaths, divorces, remarriages, bankruptcies, etc.), so you've got 15 to 50 heirs, all with different ideas of what should happen with the copyright and willing to sue if they're not listened to. Add in the Rule Against Perpetuities (complicated rule, revoked in some states, that attempts to prevent property from being controlled by the decedent forever), and it's a real mess.
And don't get me started on what happens if the writer is a collaborator, because it can be a huge nightmare for the surviving author if there isn't a contract in place between them, in addition to a literary executor.
But, yeah, what Neil Gaiman said. Even if all you do in a simple will is to name a literary executor (and follow-up literary executor), with power to sell/license or NOT sell/license (e.g. destroy materials), and perhaps name a library/institution to receive your papers, you'll be in better legal shape than 90+ percent of the other writers out there.
JD, not giving individual legal advice, other than to go see a professional with expertise in estate planning to draft and execute your will.
