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December 20, 2017February 15, 2024

Vivian Maier Estate’s Copyright Claim

The estate of an unknown woman has won the ability to pursue a claim to her copyrights.

Vivian Maier was never a well-known person during her lifetime. She sometimes worked as a housekeeper and as a nanny.

She did not even always use the same name when seeking employment.

By the end of her life, she was extremely poor. She stopped making payments in 2007 on a small storage locker she had in Chicago. The contents of the locker were auctioned off.

Maier passed away in 2009 still entirely unknown. She had no known heirs or estate plan, as PDN Pulse reported in “Federal Court Sustains Vivian Maier Copyright Claim.”

Included in the Chicago storage locker were a number of photographs and negatives that Maier had taken over the years. She apparently loved to take pictures of what she saw on the street.

However, Maier was not an ordinary amateur photographer.

She was brilliant and interest in her work grew immediately, when some of it was posted online.

Collectors began buying up her works, including a man named Jeffrey Goldstein. He began selling prints of the work and licensing the images for use.

Maier’s estate sued Goldstein for copyright violations. Goldstein asked that the court dismiss the suit, since he claimed to have purchased the works before Maier passed away.

His request has been denied.

Vivian Maier herself will not get to enjoy the benefits of her now famous works. However, her estate will be able to do so.

Reference: PDN Pulse (Nov. 21, 2017) “Federal Court Sustains Vivian Maier Copyright Claim.”

December 19, 2017

Plan for Death to Live Better

It might not seem intuitive. However, if you make plans for your death, you can sometimes live a better life.

People do not ordinarily engage in “death” planning. We tend to think there might be something wrong with people who do.

We might think they are overly morbid, if not suicidal.

If they are a friend or family member, we might even encourage them to get professional help. However, there is a type of death planning that is good and one people should consider doing.

In fact, it can help them live more fruitful lives, as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog explains in "How Planning For Your Death Can Help You Live A More Purposeful Life."

What is meant by good death planning is planning for what will happen to your assets after you pass away and planning for how you want to be remembered after you are gone.

We call these “estate” planning and “legacy” planning.

Estate planning starts with deciding who you want to have your assets and personal possessions after you pass away. After that, you can go to an estate planning attorney who will prepare legal documents to make your wishes enforceable.

Legacy planning is not quite as simple. It requires thinking about what is important in your life and figuring out how to impart that to the people you will leave behind.

If you do undertake estate and legacy planning, then you will have a better understanding of what will happen after you pass away.

That, in turn, will help you to live better now.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Nov. 23, 2017) "How Planning For Your Death Can Help You Live A More Purposeful Life."

December 15, 2017

Wealth Planners

Wealthy people have so many different advisors for different aspects of their lives, that it is often a good idea to hire someone who can coordinate all of them and keep them on the same page.

If you have a lot of money, it is likely that you pay a lot of people to manage various aspects of your wealth.

You have financial advisors. You have business consultants. You have accountants. You have estate planning attorneys. You have business attorneys. You have a lot more than that.

It can be difficult to keep all of your advisors coordinated and all working toward the same goals.

The advice you get from the different advisors can be contradictory.

While it is good to get a variety of opinions, it might be a good idea to hire someone to help you manage it all, as Forbes discusses in "Estate Planning For the Ultra Wealthy – The Role of A Family Wealth Advisor."

The idea is fairly simple.

Estate planning attorneys who have the expertise to plan how wealth can be transferred down within families for generations can also act as wealth planners. They coordinate the activities of all of the other advisors and make sure the wealthy client's ultimate estate planning goals are always kept in mind.

Estate planning attorneys can make sure that the other advisors are all working toward the one ultimate goal.

Not everyone needs a wealth planner.

Those that do would be well advised to talk to their estate planning attorneys about the benefits of having one.

Reference: Forbes (Aug. 29, 2017) "Estate Planning For the Ultra Wealthy – The Role of A Family Wealth Advisor."

December 13, 2017

Using a Trust for Educational Funding

Educational costs have risen so high, that accumulating the money to pay for a child or grandchild to attend college can take years. There are a few different ways to do it.

You might have heard the nightmare stories about people with college degrees who end up owing more than a hundred thousand dollars to the government in student loans. That is becoming such a common scenario, that the majority of Americans now support the idea that public colleges should be tuition free.

However, tuition free college is probably not a realistic scenario in the near future.

Families who do not want their younger generations to have to pay back gigantic student loan debts are making plans to have parents and grandparents pay for school.

There are a couple of different options as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog discussed in "Funding Education? Consider A Trust Instead of a 529 Plan."

A 529 plan is a great way for families to save for education.

It allows for tax-free investments for educational expenses. However, the investment opportunities can be somewhat limited and people can only sign up for plans that are made available from state governments.

People with more money would be better off using trusts for educational expenses.

With trusts there are more investment options and if the money is not needed for educational expenses, then it can more easily be used for other things.

If you would like to make paying for the education of future generations of your family part of your estate, then talk to an estate planning attorney about the best way to do that.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Nov. 16, 2017) "Funding Education? Consider A Trust Instead of a 529 Plan."

December 13, 2017

Duke’s Will to Be Unsealed

The Duke of Windsor's will has been sealed since his death in 1972. The will of the man once known as King Edward VIII has been ordered unsealed, so copyrights can be determined for a television show.

It is considered one of the biggest acts of romantic love in modern history. King Edward VIII of England abdicated the throne in 1936, so he could marry a divorced American woman named Wallis Simpson.

His title changed from the king to the Duke of Windsor. He passed away in 1972.

The contents of his will were quickly sealed by the court and have never been made public, despite great public and historical interest in them. People are curious whether the will might shed any light on the man's decision to abdicate.

A court in the U.K. has now ruled that the will is to be unsealed as the Daily Mail reports in "Duke of Windsor's will to be unsealed at last… but only so The Crown's writers can get their facts straight."

The Duke's will is only to be unsealed for a limited purpose.

The writers of the Netflix show The Crown would like to use the duke's letters in their show. However, they first need to know who owns the copyrights to those letters, so they can get the necessary permissions to use them.

It is not likely the will's other details will be made public.

For a former king's will to be sealed, is probably a simple matter.

For other people, it is much more difficult since wills are generally a matter of public knowledge.

People who would like to keep their estates private, should see an estate planning attorney for more information about how to do that.

Reference: Daily Mail (Nov. 15, 2017) "Duke of Windsor's will to be unsealed at last… but only so The Crown's writers can get their facts straight."

December 12, 2017

Do Not Neglect Estate Planning

If you do not have a will, it might be assumed that your assets will go to your spouse or children. But you might very well be wrong.

For centuries the only people who bothered to make detailed estate plans were the wealthy. Most people had very few assets and did not have a great need to make detailed plans. Some people chose to draft a simple will, but most did not do even that.

Even today people still tend to think of estate planning as something really only necessary for wealthy people. Other people with lesser means tend to assume that if they do not do any estate planning they do not need to worry. They think their spouse or children will inherit their assets and they do not need to bother actually drafting a will. In Maryland

That is a mistake as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog explained in "Estate Planning Is Not Just for the Ultra-Rich Anymore."

If you do not have an estate plan, then any assets you have at the time of your death will be distributed according to the laws of intestate succession in your state.

In some states, that means your assets will pass to your spouse and your children. However, other states have different laws and they sometimes give assets to people who might not have been included in an estate plan, such as siblings and parents. In Maryland, without a will, 1/2 goes to the spouse and 1/2 to the minor children. Do you want your 5 year old to inherit half? If you want more control, then hire an estate planning attorney. In DC a spouse and minor children inherit, without a will, as well. In order to minimize the costs of probate, however, you will need an estate plan.

It is not difficult to get a will from an estate planning attorney.

There is no reason you should leave things up to state law.

Get an estate plan and make sure that your assets are distributed as you choose.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Nov. 16, 2017) "Estate Planning Is Not Just for the Ultra-Rich Anymore."

December 11, 2017

Endowments of Closed Schools

Every year wealthy people give money to the endowment funds of colleges and universities. What happens to the money, when a school closes its doors for good is complicated.

Some big name schools have gigantic endowment funds. Schools like Harvard and Yale have many wealthy alums who are happy to give to their alma maters.

However, wealthy people do not just give to their own former schools.

They often contribute to much smaller colleges and universities, with the hope that those schools can use the funds to educate younger Americans.

Some schools do not make it. In fact, this has increasingly been the case since the financial collapse in 2008.

Every year, hundreds of schools close their doors permanently but still have money in their endowment funds.

The Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog recently discussed what happens to that money in "Orphan Endowments of Dead Schools Bedevil U.S. States."

The big problem?

When a school closes there are many people who would like to have the money that is left over in the endowment funds.

The descendants of wealthy donors would like to have the money, as would the bondholders and other creditors of the schools.

The Attorney General of the state has to figure out who gets the money and state laws are not always clear on the subject. That creates big headaches for people over what are often relatively small sums.

If you or an ancestor of yours has given money to a small school that has closed, you should know that you can try and get that money back.

Nevertheless, you should know that you are unlikely to be successful.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (Nov. 17, 2017) "Orphan Endowments of Dead Schools Bedevil U.S. States."

December 11, 2017February 27, 2023

Estate Planning for Pets

One hundred years ago, it would have been considered extremely odd if someone left detailed estate plans for their pets. A will might have mentioned who should be given a beloved animal. However, it was not common to leave aside money for the pets or to leave detailed instructions for their care.

Many people today are often very concerned about what will happen to their pets, after they pass away.

As a result, they are planning for those pets more carefully than ever before.

The Wall Street Journal recently offered some tips about how to go about that planning in “Estate Plans Don’t Have to Be Just For People,” including:

• Think about who should be the caregiver for your pets and make sure your choice is willing to serve in that role.

• Figure out how much money your pets might need to maintain their lifestyle and set aside that money for them.

• Think about everything that needs to be done to properly care for your pets and make sure you have it all written down, so the caregiver will know what to do.

• Be sure to visit an estate planning attorney so you can formalize your plans. The attorney will help you decide the best legal instrument to make sure your plans will be carried out. In addition, the attorney will draft those documents so a court will accept them as valid.

Reference: Wall Street Journal (Nov. 5, 2017) “Estate Plans Don’t Have to Be Just For People.”

December 8, 2017March 7, 2023

Lesser Known Estate Planning Mistakes

There are many articles written about mistakes in estate planning. They often mention the same few things over and over again.

That is good.

The more often mistakes are mentioned, the less likely it is that people will make them.

However, it also means other estate planning mistakes do not get mentioned very much, despite the fact that people often make them.

The Ithaca Times recently discussed some of those lesser mentioned estate planning mistakes in “Key estate planning mistakes to avoid,” including:

• Forgetting to update an estate plan when a spouse or child passes away. It might not be the best time for you to change your estate plan, especially given everything you are going through. Not doing so, can result in problems later.

• Not reviewing and updating retirement plan and insurance policy beneficiaries for years.

• Many people have the mistaken belief that if they have a will, then their estates will not go through probate. That is almost never the case. If your objective is for your estate not to go through probate, see an estate planning attorney to learn how to accomplish that.

• People too often assume that once their children reach the age of 18, they will be able to responsibly handle any inherited assets. That may not be the case. You should plan for any minor children to have assistance with assets for longer than that.

Reference: Ithaca Times (Nov. 8, 2017) “Key estate planning mistakes to avoid.”

Building Legacies that Last Estate Planning and Elder Law

Author: Profit Law Firm