Manhattan elder law estate planning attorney

Prince & Tidal

After the death of a musician, we commonly hear about battles between the estate of deceased artists and various music companies, regarding the royalties to a deceased artist’s work, who now owns it, and who is entitled to receive royalties now that the artist is no longer alive. The Estate of music legend Prince has faced a number of legal issues while trying to determine inheritance as well as ownership of music and rights. The music streaming platform Tidal, started by rapper Jay-Z, had the exclusive rights to stream Prince’s last album, however, Tidal is now being sued by the estate for illegally streaming all of Prince’s albums on the platform streaming site. Shortly after Prince passed away, Tidal started streaming the entire catalogue of music, expanding it from the 90 day exclusivity clause it had for the one album.

Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones & Sony Productions

International Will Issues

As our world continues to grow and technology allows us to move places once never thought imagined, many individuals have the opportunity to live abroad throughout the course of their lives. After spending time in a specific area, whether it is for the majority of your life or for a shorter time, you may acquire property in that new place. However, when it comes to estate planning, issues may arise for a citizen who has acquired property in another country and has executed multiple wills for their multiple properties.

If you have property in another country, having a will in that jurisdiction disposing of that property generally will make it easier than if the property’s disposition is listed in a will in a different country, since it will increase the efficiency of estate administration for the property in that jurisdiction. However, if the testator has multiple wills in multiple countries, covering multiple pieces of land, he must write the most recent will in a way as to not revoke the previous foreign wills and subject the land to differing dispositions.

Articles Tagged with Manhattan elder law estate planning attorney

Estate Battles and Royalties

Two Wills, Two Different Countries