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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.
What is a Trust Protector?
Before I answer that question, let me tell you a story. There was an older couple who both had children from prior marriages. In a tragic twist of fate, the husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer about the same time that the wife was diagnosed with dementia. They...
How Do I Avoid Probate?
I’ve been asked this question more than once. Before I answer it here, let’s go over what probate is and how it works. Simply put, probate is the process of administering an estate (i.e. a deceased person’s money and “stuff”) under the supervision of the Probate...
How to Take Down Infringing Content Online
You’re a published author (if you’re not in real life, then just pretend and go along with it). You’re basking in the glow of success, and you decide to type the name of your book into Google to see if it’s gotten yet another stellar review. As you scroll down the...
Who Should I Choose for My Executor/Trustee?
This question comes up regularly in my practice. I have seen some clients who quickly write down a list without much thought, but I see many more who have to stop and think, or who ask me for advice. Some clients don’t have anyone in their life they can ask to step...
The Work-for-hire doctrine – When Is My Work Really My Work?
On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court redefined when a worker is an employee and when a worker is an independent contractor (Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles, No. S222732 (Cal. Sup. Ct. Apr. 30, 2018)). Essentially, all workers...
When Can I Use Someone Else’s Material in My Writing?
One of the questions I hear most frequently from authors is: When can I use someone else’s copyrighted material in my own work?[1] Stories can’t be written in a vacuum, and many of the sources authors would like to draw on are copyrighted. As many copyright owners are...
When Should I Update My Estate Plan?
Let’s face it, people don’t like to think about their estate plans. Most Americans don’t even have a basic will. Those who have a complete estate plan – will, trust(s), power of attorney and health care directive – can congratulate themselves on being ahead of the...
Trusts or LLCs – Which is Better?
Trusts and corporations are valuable estate planning tools. Both serve as a way to keep an estate out of probate, because both are considered separate entities under the law. Anything they own is not owned by you, therefore it is not part of the estate (for probate...
What Is a Trademark?
People are very good at identifying trademarks, and can confidently name or point out any number of famous marks. Ask those same people what a trademark is, or why we have trademarks, and they get much less confident. So let’s start from the top and break it down into...