What Happens to My Copyrights When I Die?
I work with a lot of authors. Since I offer both copyright and estate planning services, I am often asked what happens to an author’s copyrights when they die, especially if they don’t have a will or trust. And if you own a copyright, you may also wonder what happens to my copyrights when I die? The answer...
Five Frequently Asked Questions in Estate Planning
Part of my job as a lawyer is answering questions – in fact, a lot of my job is answering questions. As a result, some questions crop up rather frequently. Here are a few frequently asked questions from estate planning clients that you may have wondered about yourself. What’s the difference between a will and trust? Do I...
Executors vs. Trustees pt. 2 – Who Do I Choose?
I wrote a blog article some time ago explaining the difference between an executor and a trustee and the duties of each position. (If you want to re-read it, you can find it here: https://www.kawaylaw.com/news/executor-and-trustee/) For those who want to know but would prefer to stick with this article, the short explanation is this: the executor is the...
Intellectual Property Rights in Writing – What Rights Do I Have?
People talk about intellectual property rights all the time, but what exactly are intellectual property rights? More specifically, what rights do you have to your written materials, i.e. your books, manuals, blog articles, website content etc.? “Intellectual property” is a broad term that refers to creations of the mind – these are things that you created, which have...
How Do I Update My Registration With the Copyright Office?
All right, you have successfully assigned your copyright(s) to your trust (if you haven’t done this yet, please see my previous article on putting a copyright into your trust). Now you want to update your registration with the Copyright Office to show that the copyright is in trust. How do you do that? The traditional method is to...