What Should I Do About My Estate Plan During the Shelter in Place Order and Coronavirus (COVID-19) Crisis?
The Impact of Sheltering in Place on Creating or Updating Your Estate Plan Here are some questions you might be asking right now: Should I Work on My Will and Trust? Can I Work on My Estate Plan? Is This A Good Time to Update My Estate Plan? Here Are Some Questions You Might Be Asking Right Now:...
I’ve Inherited A Copyright, Now What?
Five things you should know and do when you inherit a copyright. Under the current copyright laws, a copyright lasts for the author’s lifetime plus seventy years. This means that a copyright will always outlive its creator, and it will be passed on at least once. But what is a person supposed to do with a copyright once...
Do My Children Have to Get Their Inheritance All at Once?
Different Ways to Space Out Inheritance Distributions If a person dies in California without a will or trust, the California Probate Code decides what happens to their estate (i.e., all their earthly possessions). Under the Probate Code, if the decedent (legalese for “the deceased person") had children, then the children inherit their share as soon as probate closes...
Can I Use Other People’s Fictional Characters in My Book?
Fictional Characters in Books In my previous articles, I talked about incorporating real people and real trademarks in your book. In this article, I’ll be talking about fictional people – specifically, fictional characters that are still protected by copyright. The protection of fictional characters is a bit of a grey area. It used to be that there was...
Can I Write About a Real Person in My Book?
Defamation, Right of Privacy and Right of Publicity in Writing I've recently been asked, "Can I write about a real person in my book?" There are several ways this question pops up: Could you have your fictional character meet a celebrity? Can you use real names in a memoir? Will you get in trouble if you write someone’s...