Robin Williams avoided a common problem with celebrity estates by including his publicity rights in his estate planning. Williams transferred his publicity rights to a charitable organization, the Windfall Foundation. This move not only provides protection of how Williams’ personal brand is treated after his death, but also avoids the value of his publicity rights being included in his taxable estate.
See Gerard Cukier & Sameena Munir, What Can Robin Williams Teach You About Managing Your Personal Brand?, Music Week, Apr. 22, 2015.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
