Royalties For Self-Publishing Authors After Death

What exactly is your experience in this field, that you feel it's appropriate to continue telling people 'this is all' they have to do?

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I follow same sex marriage issues and DOMA because I'm a married lesbian and the non-birth mother of a child by assisted insemination. Protecting everything important in my life relies on an understanding of and keeping up with law and jurisprudence as it relates to same sex couples. I follow it like a hawk.

It's very important for people in same sex relationships is to always assume their relationship will not be recognized despite marriage or civil union and make private contracts, living wills, medical powers of attorney, second parent adoptions or court findings of parenthood, etc. to protect themselves. (I think everyone in this thread has always agreed that people need to protect themselves with a properly executed will.)

However, DOMA will not affect the ability to leave property to an heir via a properly executed will. That's not a controversial or moot statement.

Oh this is an immensely useful topic as it is something I've been thinking about a fair bit lately. I was planning to write a will leaving my husband all the rights to my work and was hoping that's all that would be necessary to make sure that he and our children continue to get the revenue from my work. Clearly I need to get some legal advice first!

There are two issues being discussed here: the practicalities of how royalties could be paid after death; and what happens to a writer's intellectual property after death. It's all very well to work out the first, but if we fail to ensure that the second is done properly, we're in breach of the law.

The only way--the ONLY way--to ensure that our intellectual property is dealt with appropriately after our death is to consult an appropriately qualified attorney. Asking people on the internet is not going to get the job done.

I'm not the first person to point this out here. Terie wrote:

FOR ANY AND ALL QUESTIONS REGARDING ESTATE PLANNING, CONSULT A QUALIFIED LAWYER, NOT AN INTERNET FORUM.

And:

IF YOU AREN'T A LAWYER, DON'T GIVE LEGAL ADVICE ON THE INTERNET.

(Actual lawyers already know not to give advice on the internet.)

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And Medievalist said:

Consult an attorney who understands estate planning and IP law.

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It's fine to discuss this on a broad level here: but if anyone comes close to giving legal advice of any kind--whether good or bad--I'm going to lock this. I hope that's clear.

Another thing I've been considering is having the person I want to pass my rights on to be a signer on my checking account. Of course, that assumes the person you're adding is someone you trust. I know I had to do this with my mom and dad's accounts because even though I had legal power of attorney, I would not have had access to their checking/saving accounts. A friend of mine went through a nasty battle over this very issue with her parents' accounts as she was not a signer on the account. It was a long, drawn-out battle to access their accounts.

I am not a lawyer and am not giving advice, just suggesting another thing to think about.

I agree with everyone who has posted to seek legal advice from a trained professional.

Having a joint owner on a bank account can lead to all sorts of unintended consequences. The first jury trial I ever did was representing a little old lady whose son was placed on her savings account "for convenience" in case something happened to her (instead of doing a proper will or trust or POA), and he promptly wiped out the entire balance. She had to sue to get back the money that he hadn't already spent by the time she found out about it.

Another issue is that if the money essentially belongs to person A, and person B is added to the account, and then person B is sued for something (car accident, slip and fall at the home, etc.), the money in the account can be attached by the plaintiff suing person B.

Do not do this sort of thing without first consulting with a qualified professional in your jurisdiction. And that means a lawyer, not the bank's account manager.

Really, it makes me crazy how much work people put into avoiding probate, when the things they're doing are either a) risky, or b) completely ineffective.

Financial planning and estate planning should be left to the experts.

JD, not giving individual legal advice, just general information

JanDarby said:

Having a joint owner on a bank account can lead to all sorts of unintended consequences. The first jury trial I ever did was representing a little old lady whose son was placed on her savings account "for convenience" in case something happened to her (instead of doing a proper will or trust or POA), and he promptly wiped out the entire balance. She had to sue to get back the money that he hadn't already spent by the time she found out about it.

Another issue is that if the money essentially belongs to person A, and person B is added to the account, and then person B is sued for something (car accident, slip and fall at the home, etc.), the money in the account can be attached by the plaintiff suing person B.

Do not do this sort of thing without first consulting with a qualified professional in your jurisdiction. And that means a lawyer, not the bank's account manager.

Really, it makes me crazy how much work people put into avoiding probate, when the things they're doing are either a) risky, or b) completely ineffective.

Financial planning and estate planning should be left to the experts.

JD, not giving individual legal advice, just general information

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And to continue the Not Legal Advice, Just General Advice

Different jurisdictions have different requirements for what is a validly executed will and what is a legal marriage. (For example, common law marriage has not been recognized in my state for a long time, but I still get people who believe it is valid.) What is valid and/or legal in CA may not apply to NY; what is considered community property or separate property also varies by state. (I once had a man tell me community property started seven years after marriage. Um, no.) Which is another good reason to seek out a legal professional in your jurisdiction instead of relying on information found on the internet.

I recently had to deal with a huge legal mess and looked into one of those DIY legal forms kits you find at office supply stores. Y'know. Save a few bucks and all that. When I read the book that came with it and saw how much I didn't know and how that could have gotten me into worse trouble than I already was, I scraped up the retainer fee the week after that and went to an attorney.

Legal kits are fine it things are very simple. I have no living relatives. My only heirs are my partner (wife in 7 states, possibly 10 in November!) and our daughter. My estate will be pretty simple. You want to divide property up between multiple heirs or have a hostile ex-spouse or family who might challenge the will? Ugh. Not so easy. Don't trust a kit. The more nasty other relatives are the worse it could be.

AFAIK joint accounts will not help because if someone dies, their proceeds will go to an estate account for a while anyway. The big thing is making sure someone, after it's all over with, has the book files or passwords or both or whatever so they can actually successfully manage the "self publishing" business. Leaving aside the legal part entirely, if you leave it to someone who can't work a web page to check the KDP proceeds or adjust prices if Amazon's policies change, well, it's not going to go well.

If you trade publish, you can lean a little on the publisher. They will make out checks to "someone," whomever the courts decide after probate. But self-publishing is different. It's a business. Whomever, takes over, after all the legal stuff that people here are over-simplfying (me) or overcomplicating (everyone else) is done, still needs to have the ability and interest to actually manage KDP, Smashwords, Kobo, Pub-It and so on. It's a business.

And everyone. If you've make $500 a year, don't spend $10,000 on a lawyer. Keep some perspective on cost/benefit. The key to making money as a stinky old "self-publisher" is keeping costs reasonable to income.