After Your Death, the Royalties Keep Coming, But Where Do They Go?

In the United States, death is a legal process. If you die with a will, a court metes out your assets according to your wishes. If you die intestate, your property is divvied up according to a legal formula put into play by your state’s legislature, typically handing over your assets to your spouse and children.

Your author royalties are legally viewed as intellectual property. Following your death, your royalties continue and are treated the same as any other property, such as your house or your collection of vintage PEZ candy dispensers.

Ladies, here’s what we need to keep in mind. In the US, there’s a growing trend for women to remain or become single. Approximately 15% of 40- to 44-year-old women have no children, and women outlive men by an average of six years.

If you pass from this world without a spouse or offspring, your inheritance net will be broadened to include siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Now take that scenario to the next step. When some of your original heirs die and leave heirs of their own, royalty checks may be split into more and more small pieces. Will nephew Artie truly appreciate one-seventh of your hard-earned-but-not-necessarily-lavish royalties?

Attorneys & Legal Documents

Earlier this year, I enlisted a lawyer who specializes in making certain that a person’s bases are all covered when she dies. I assumed estate planning would be an arduous, headache-inducing process, but my legal team took me by the hand and walked me through the steps.

Recommendations:

1. Although not necessary, consider a lawyer who works solely on estate planning.
2. Seek referrals from your friends and associates rather than automatically contacting the stunning lawyer who brilliantly handled your neighbor’s allegation that Snow White was overly friendly with him at Disneyland.

Your responsibilities:

1. Right up front, don’t be bashful about asking the total cost. Silently acknowledge that competent lawyers aren’t cheap. Think of a will as an investment. Sooner or later, you’ll use it.
2. Don’t view the attorney’s questions as prying. Nosey is good—he or she’s trying to get a feel for your situation rather than offering a one-size-fits-all package.
3. Provide the contact info of the persons who know where you keep your printed and digital business documents—literary contracts, agreements with Amazon to sell your self-produced audiobooks, the remaining copies of that 15-year-old self-published book that sold a grand total of 22 copies.
4. Supply a list of all your pseudonyms. Ditto for a list of your literary agents (past and present).
5. Don’t be intimidated (like I was) if the lawyer brings up the possibility of a living trust rather than a will.
6. Pause and look around. Are there any charities that could utilize your royalties to make your community or this world a better place?
7. Dig deep, really deep, and imagine yourself incapacitated (think catastrophic car wreck or stroke). How would the day-to-day obligations of your life be handled?

Double, double toil and trouble

Picture this scenario. Following your death, your historical paranormal romance novel skyrockets to bestseller level. Along comes the offer for the big movie deal. Your fame and fortune have arrived posthumously.

However, your estate was divided between multiple legatees. Your niece insists on holding out for more money. Meanwhile, the husband of your other niece (who’s now deceased) feverishly rubs his hands together and whoops, “Let’s go for it!” And your Best Friend Forever (who also agreed to take care of your aging Basset Hound) has already mentally spent her share of the booty. With these three people locked in gridlock, the movie producer moves on to other projects.

Various ways and means are available to avoid this type of situation. Two possibilities include appointing a professional literary executor (in addition to your will’s executor) and establishing after-death rules and procedures. Your options all begin with an open discussion with your attorney.

Your copyrights are your legacy—financially, artistically and emotionally. Keep them under your purview, even after you are laid to rest.

Get Moving

I wrote this article as a worrywart female author who recently walked the journey of estate planning and wanted to share the lessons I gleaned. I’m also a woman who, on the Sunday afternoon after my 47th birthday, quite unexpectedly became a widow.

Yep, preemptively gathering your thoughts and information will require precious time that you’d rather spend doing something else. Like, maybe, writing. But keep in mind that death doesn’t stop your readers. Or your royalties. Or your copyrights.

If you think you might die someday, take action now, while you can still talk, think, and sign your name.

Heartfelt thanks to Dash DeJarnatt at Bryan Law Firm, P.C., in Bozeman, Montana for his guidance on this article.

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After 30 fulfilling years, Jane Marlow took down her veterinarian shingle and seriously pursued writing historical fiction. The second book in her Petrovo, series, How Did I Get Here, is due out in May 2018. She’s currently writing the third in the series, which dives into the seamy side of 1800s Moscow. JaneMarlowBooks.com

About HOW DID I GET HERE

The second novel in the Petrovo series

A war story told in intimate human terms.

Andrey enters his final year of medical studies in 1854 with an empty belly, empty pockets, and secondhand clothes held together by wishful thinking. When Russia blunders into the misbegotten Crimean War, Tsar Nicholas recruits medical students to the front. Andrey grabs at this flash of good luck.

Or is it his worst nightmare?

After the ink dries on the peace treaty, can he put the atrocities of the war behind him and pursue a meaningful life? Can he cease being emotionally hamstrung and trust the woman who longs to walk beside him on his journey?

Available May 2018 paperback, Kindle, and Audible

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