Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Tax Notes (a publicaion of Tax Analysts)

Publication Date

10-19-2009

Abstract

The untimely death of Michael Jackson this past June presents an opportunity to reassess some thorny estate tax issues that may arise when a celebrity dies owning valuable intellectual property. Elsewhere we have debated hypothetical, tax-motivated changes to state laws relating to postmortem publicity rights. This article will focus on existing legislation, like California’s, that makes publicity rights both devisable and descendible. Federal transfer taxes are levied on intangible property as well as tangible assets, and therefore apply to intellectual property, including a celebrity’s right of publicity and copyrights retained by an artist in his creations. Using Jackson’s estate as an example, and focusing primarily on publicity rights, we will examine two questions that any estate planner representing a celebrity client should consider. First, how should a personal representative value intellectual property for estate tax purposes? Second, what strategies are available to lessen the estate tax burden associated with some intellectual property rights?

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.