There is more to estate planning (literary or otherwise) than putting together a will and trust. That is the most basic part of estate planning. A more advanced part of estate planning is setting things up to make things easier for the person who comes after you. The will and trust tells everyone who’s in charge and where everything goes, but they don’t tell the person what they’re in charge of or how to manage your estate until it’s time to distribute. By answering these questions, you make things much easier for your future executor/trustee, which is the whole point of the estate planning process.
The first step to preparing your estate is making a list or spreadsheet of everything in it. You can use whatever format you’re comfortable with, but make sure all your bank accounts, investments, real property, and other assets are included. One of the hardest parts of estate administration is finding everything the person owned, so this will be a huge help for your executor/trustee.
The next step is to provide the information they will need to access these assets. If you have advisors you work with, or specific contacts at a financial institution, make a list of these people and their contact information. If your executor/trustee needs passwords to access something, make sure to provide them.
The third step is only for assets that need active management, such as rental properties. If you have systems in place for how you manage these assets, write those systems down and keep them with the other two lists, so the person can hit the ground running and make a smooth transition into this management role.
The last step is to keep all these documents somewhere safe, where they’re unlikely to be lost, stolen or destroyed. Ideally they will be kept with your will and trust, so everything is in the same place. Then tell your future executor/trustee where to find them, so they can step in quickly when the time comes.
A special note for authors: preparing your estate for your future executor/trustee is even more crucial, because your literary estate (i.e. your copyrights, contracts royalties etc.) is one that will need active management to keep the income coming in. Prepare your general estate as outlined above, but have a special list or spreadsheet for your copyrights, contracts, literary contacts etc. so your executor/trustee can start managing your literary estate right away.
I recently was a guest on the Novel Marketing podcast where we did a deep dive on this topic and discussed what happens to your copyright after you die; you can listen to or watch it on YouTube here. If you have questions or want assistance with your estate plan, feel free to email me at kaway@kawaylaw.com.
