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Kelley Way has been creating blog posts across many topics of Estate Planning, Copyright and Trademark law. If you have a topic or question you’d like covered, reach out to Kelley Way here.
How Many Trustees Should I Have?
I recently had a client meeting where the client asked about naming all three sons as co-trustees on her trust. I strongly discouraged this, and since several other clients have asked about naming multiple children as co-trustees, I’ll explain why. First, no one can...
What is a Literary Executor?
A client recently asked me about literary executors and whether she needed one for her estate. Let’s review what a literary executor is and when appointing one would be a good idea. First, let’s talk about executors generally. “Executor” is the person you put in...
How Do I Work With A Co-author?
Imagine this co-author meet cute: You're sitting in a café, working on the latest draft of your manuscript, when you decide to take a break and chat with the person next to you. The two of you hit it off, and you find out they're a writer, too. Even better, they write...
What Happens to My Website if I Die?
Many of us are website owners these days, and websites are one of those assets we would like to see last beyond our lifetime. But will that happen automatically? If not, what must be done to ensure the website continues after death? So, let’s answer the question: what...
How Do I Amend My Trust?
Believe it or not, the question of how to properly amend a trust has been the subject of much debate and controversy in the legal world over the last few years. The California Supreme Court has finally issued a ruling on the subject, so here’s an article going through...
What’s This Copyright Worth Anyway? Valuing Copyrights in an Estate
Today, let's discuss valuing copyrights in an estate by going over an example scenario: You have been named the executor of an estate. While going through this estate, you discover that the person published several books, which are still in print and making money....
How Do I Gift My Copyright
Making Copyright Bequests Let's say you have written and published a book. Congratulations! Then you realize that you actually have to market the book to get people to buy it, and suddenly, it's not so fun anymore. Or perhaps you're happy with the way things are now,...
The Difference between Irrevocable and Revocable Trusts
What Kind of Trust Do I Want? One frequently asked question I hear is whether the person should have a revocable or irrevocable trust. This is usually followed by the question, what is an irrevocable or revocable trust, and what's the difference between the two? Let...
How to Deal With Fanfiction
I was presented with an interesting question a while back when an author had to deal with fanfiction. A writer was successful enough to have a fanbase, who would sometimes send her fanfiction they wrote based on her novels. At one point, a fan sent her some fanfiction...