Writers, if you do not have a will, go to this post on Neil Gaiman’s web site, read the blog, and then download and fill out the sample will done by an attorney for writers.
I can’t stress this enough. I’m teaching a writers and money course this weekend to a number of professional writers and this is a topic. It needs to be done by us all.
Again, the sample writer’s will can be found on Neil Gaiman’s blog. It is easy and fast. Get it, get it done.
Back shortly with another wounded cow.
Bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith published traditionally more than one hundred popular novels and well over two hundred short stories. His novels include the science fiction novel Laying the Music to Rest and the thriller The Hunted as D.W. Smith. With Kristine Kathryn Rusch, he co-wrote The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th Kingdom. He writes under many pen names and ghosts for a number of top bestselling writers.
Dean wrote books and comics for all three major comic book companies, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, and wrote scripts for Hollywood. One movie actually saw film.
Dean also worked as an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books. He now plays a role as an executive editor for Fiction River.
WMG Publishing Inc. is now my major publisher of all my coming novels, collections, and short stories.
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Thanks for that, Dean
I have a basic will, but hadn’t considered anything specific about my writings. That’ll be fixed shortly 
Once again, I would like to emphasize that, although Neil’s boilerplate will is a good start, particularly for someone with no will at all, there are enough differences in law from state to state, not to mention other jurisdictions (Canada, for instance), that consulting both an estate attorney and an intellectual property rights attorney to get this right would be prudent.
For instance, things which apply in Massachusetts:
1) Not only should there be two witnesses to a non-holographic will, but in order to avoid potential challenges to the will after death (witnesses all too often predecease the Testator/trix or cannot be located 25 or 50 years in the future), the will should be notarized. Then it becomes a self proving will and very difficult to challenge on the basis of authenticity.
2) In my experience, when setting forth a trust in a will, the Trust itself must be established and recorded (a separate document usually drawn by the same attorney drawing the will)
Other matters:
1) If someone already has a will (particularly if that will is complicated), this could be executed as a Codicil to that will.
2) If someone writes under pennames and/or has a corporation or business d/b/a, (particularly where the penname(s) are not made public), they should be itemized in the will/codicil. In Massachusetts at least, the will/codicil need not be recorded until after death, so disclosing “secret” pennames in the will will not blow your cover, but (if I read copyright law correctly) in order to maintain copyright protection after death, a penname must be acknowledged before death.
As you can see, there is more than meets the eye in drawing a will or codicil. I am not an attorney, but I will consult one or two appropriate legal specialists before executing a codicil to my own will.
But, please, don’t take this as another reason to procrastinate on getting something down in writing. Having a will, any will, is better than no will at all. If you die intestate (without a will) the laws of your jurisdiction will dictate what happens to your property, intellectual or otherwise. A will can always be changed later by the Testator/trix (the person whose will it is).
Thanks, Dean, And thanks Mary for the addendum. It’s always good to take care of such things but, indeed, far too many people don’t bother, which is not cool.
Deborah
The reason Neil had an attorney draw up such a simple, but yet effective sample is because so many people just don’t do this. Especially writers. Read Neil’s post on his and the attorney’s suggestions, which follow Mary’s. What he drew up is simple and effective.
In Wills, Estates, and Trusts, the one major theme is “intent.” So get that intent down clearly as possible. Attorney’s are suggested but not needed. Just do something. Something is a ton better than nothing.