Or, Estate Planning For Everyone
(Part 1 of a new series)
I have a writing mentor who talks a lot about estate planning. Around ten years ago, his best friend, another writer, died and left my mentor as the executor to his estate. His estate, which includes all the intellectual property, collectibles, real estate, and everything else you might expect a person who lived a long and interesting life to leave behind.
Somewhat predictably and unfortunately, said writer did no estate planning, and it was a mess that took my mentor years to unravel.
Dying is a sorrowful thing. The legalese stuff that follows it is deeply unpleasant.
My grandparents died pretty much within a year of each other, my grandfather most recently. We’re now trying to sort out his estate. It’s enlightening and infuriating in not-so-equal measure; my grandparents tried to do the right thing, always. They owned everything outright, they paid their bills on time, had wills made and saw to it that everything was done to minimise the amount of inheritance tax and other shenanigans their survivors would have to deal with. Thankfully.
However…
There’s so much more that needs to be done, needed to be done, and so many other threads that keep getting pulled. Bank statements, lawyers, (so much lawyer talk I might do a blog post series about taking the SQE and becoming a lawyer myself so I don’t have to deal with it again,) and endless bits and pieces that we’ll never get an answer to because the only people that knew are now gone.
But I digress.
Estate Planning Is For Everyone
If you’ve got kids and you haven’t got a will written, understand that you are putting them in a precarious situation. In the event of your death, the world doesn’t stop; debts accumulate, bills still need to be paid, and the world goes on.
It’s not a fix-it-tomorrow kind-of problem; any of us, God Forbid, can get into mischief and/or hit by a bus tonight.
If you haven’t got kids, the same applies. Have your business in order; make sure everything is collected in a place that someone – your executor – can get to it. Make sure it’s clear what to do and where.
Clear debts, make amends with whomever you need to, and give everyone the best chance they can.
Now, let me quickly get to the point I wanted to make at the start of this.
Estate Planning For IP-Collecting Internet Pirates
Let’s say you are a long term reader of this little blog. Let’s also say that you are in the process of creating a ton of intellectual property that leads to generational wealth and fortune. Maybe even a little fame if you choose. (If you’re not, don’t worry; that’s what The Vault is focusing on. We’re all going to make it, guys.)
This, on the one hand, is obviously fantastic. On the other hand, it’s a bit of a pain in the arse because with great intellectual property comes great responsibility.
Back to my writing mentor, who tells me, “Jamie… estate planning. You have a lot of valuable IP.”
“I’m young,” I tell him in not so many words, “I will figure it out when I have got everything else done.”
In not so many words, he tells me, “You might die tomorrow and your family will be left with not only having to deal with losing you, but also the burden of having to work out what you own, what it’s worth, what they have to do to maintain it and even access it in the first place. Don’t you care?”
And this sends me down a track where I’m learning IP Law and trying to collate everything and realising that I already have hundreds of pieces of IP that earn money – and could earn more if I were actually smart about it – and before you know it, you’re down a rabbit hole that I will cover in subsequent posts.
More on this to come, clearly…