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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 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...
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...
What is Per Stirpes?
The Difference Between Per Capita and Per Stirpes I find that a number of my clients have heard the term “per stirpes,” but few actually know what it means (no, it’s not a disease). Even fewer have heard the term “per capita.” The legal community uses both...
What is an A/B Trust?
What is an A/B Trust? Many of my prospective clients have heard the term "A/B Trust", but they rarely know what it means, even when they have an A/B Trust themselves. (I've even had cases where people didn't realize they had an A/B Trust in the first place.) Let me...
What is Intellectual Property?
I throw the term “intellectual property” around quite a bit, but non-lawyers may not be quite as familiar with the term. Let me explain what intellectual property is and the four main types of intellectual property. “Intellectual property” refers to creations of the...