This section covers:
  • Objectives of Estate Planning for Artists
  • Access to Artwork, Paperwork and Digital Files
  • Advice to Artists' Executors and Trustees
  • Resources for Estate Planning for Artists - with specific references to the UK, USA and Australia
  • Examples of sample wills for artists
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"Dead artists leave two bodies: their own, and a body of work"
Harriet Schorr
Why plan for what people do with your art after you die?
  • your executor needs advice on what to do with your body of artwork
  • you need to prevent really awful squabbles about your art (it can often occur!)
  • you need to say whether your art should be sold, given to beneficiaries and/or charities or destroyed
  • your beneficiaries need to know about which artwork might produce ongoing income (e.g. artwork that is licensed or could be licensed)
  • all your artwork needs to be catalogued - and that catalogue kept up to date
  • you need to think about which taxable schemes your Estate might address / adopt
Banner Image: The Battle of the Pictures by William Hogarth
Photo by Anastase Maragos on Unsplash
Photo by Anastase Maragos on Unsplash

Objectives of Estate Planning for Artists
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An artist wants to TRY to achieve three things when planning for what happens when they die:
  1. make life easy for those left behind
  2. preserve an art legacy in whatever way they see fit
  3. minimise legal problems and probate litigation
Some of the issues you may need to consider as an artist:
  • taking independent and expert advice before making a will
  • selection of appropriate executors e.g. ones who have nothing to gain from the Estate and/or people with expertise 
  • cataloguing all unsold artwork and papers prior to death;
  • storing and insuring all artistic assets - and leaving notes as to what is where;
  • getting a professional appraisal of value of artwork
  • making sure the right people know how to find and access all relevant artwork and documentation
  • how to minimise the tax payable by your Estate
  • how to maximise any charitable benefits you choose to make

Access to artwork, paperwork and digital files
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Your Executor will need access to all your paperwork relating to Art and all your Digital Files.

Even those who have no intention of making a big think about their art after death should be thinking about what they want done with their digital accounts and their artwork which is online.
REFERENCE:
QUICK TIP - DOCUMENT CONSIGNMENTS

ALWAYS make sure that all artwork that you consign to galleries is fully documented at their end and your end i.e.
  • they have a consignment note from you
  • you have a signed / agreed consignment note from them

Your representatives will have trouble retrieving the artwork in your estate without proper documentation - which is kept up to date for all sales on a 'sale or return' basis.
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Advice for Artists
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Some of the services you might need help with include:
  • ​legacy and estate planning, 
  • inventory management, ​
  • professional appraisals and valuation
  • collection, preservation, and placement of the artist’s archives.
  • promotion and marketing, 
  • agreements and contracts, 
  • licensing 
  • merchandising
  • overseeing and development of catalogue raisonné projects
If your art has value and or a value that might increase after your death, you need to think about and take professional advice from somebody who knows about the treatment of art and cultural assets in estate planning, wills and trusts
Specifically:
  • tax schemes which enable your Executors to protect the value of your Estate and artistic legacy
  • schemes to enable charitable donations with minimal taxation implications for the Estate or the beneficiaries
  • schemes to minimise the tax as cash payable by the estate e.g. acceptance in lieu arrangements

However before you can do any of this you first need to catalogue your collection so that those who advise you have data to work with
REFERENCE:

Advice to Artists' Executors & Trustees
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Unless you choose an expert to act as an executor for your artistic estate, whoever acts as Executor will need some advice. As an artist you may well be better placed to offer this than they are to find out what they need to do.

Issues Executors will need to deal with if your art has lasting value
  • recording all relevant data on all relevant artworks
  • getting a professional appraisal and valuation
  • how best to merchandise artwork to take advantage of copyright over the next 70 years
  • how to control supply to the marketplace - and its effect on prices and value to the estate
  • how to reduce inheritance taxes by tax-efficient estate planning.
  • whether or not to create a Foundation
REFERENCE
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RESOURCES: Estate Planning for Artists

What follows are links to
  • useful books and pamphlets (in the red boxes) which  discuss this aspect of Estate Planning in more depth.
  • useful articles. While some of the articles are of more general applicability, I'm separating them out by country of origin to ensure that any references to what a particular county requires is highlighted more clearly
Information is organised by country for:
  • the UK
  • the USA
  • Australia

Estate Planning for Artists - a UK Perspective

The Artist's Legacy | Royal Academy of Arts
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A new publication which the RA produced for the benefit of everyone who is involved in the creation of art
This is a NEW publication providing helpful insights into the importance of planning for the future in order to provide for loved ones and protect your artistic legacy.

The book is available as a FREE pdf file to download on submission of your email address to the RA - click the link in the title
Contents of The Artist's Legacy
  • The artist's art: looking after your work for the future
  • The artist's art collection
  • Where there is a will, there is a way
  • Master the art of saving tax: business assets
  • Gifting works of art
  • Artists' rights and royalties
  • The Artists' Resale Right
  • Estate planning for foreign (non-UK) property and belongings
  • Giving to charity: your gift to future generations.
REFERENCE:
The following are links to specific taxable schemes relevant to Estate Planning

Estate Planning for Artists - a US Perspective

There are a number of books and free guides set up to help those in the USA plan the disposal of an artist's estate.  You need to be careful to review the date they were published. Some are updated for legislative change and some are not.
Art Law: The Guide for Collectors, Investors, Dealers & Artists
by Judith Bressler and Ralph Lerner

Rated an average of 5* by 4 reviews

Regarded as a "cornerstone reference for visual art professionals and their attorneys" - it includes chapters on estate planning for artists - and for art collectors
(Relevant to the USA only) BUY from Amazon.com

Art Law: The Guide for Collectors, Investors, Dealers & Artists

REFERENCE
ESTATE PLANNING SERVICES

This is a listing NOT a recommendation
Creating A Lasting Legacy: Estate Planning Workbook (Updated 2015)
The guide is designed to be a practical, comprehensive and user-friendly tool for artists wishing to engage with estate planning. The workbook has information on many elements key to estate planning including:
  • Legacy Vehicles
  • Wills, Trusts, Power of Attorney, Healthcare Proxy and Living Will
  • Choosing Your Personal Representatives
  • Copyright
  • Elements of Your Estate
  • Talking With an Estate Planning Attorney
Produced through a collaboration between
  • the Joan Mitchell Foundation
  • the Arts and Business Council of Greater Boston and
  • Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts

Download the Estate Planning Guide (1.7 MB.)
REFERENCE (continued)
Guidelines for Senior Artists - Estate Planning for Artists 
  • Sponsored by Senior Artists Initiative | Funded by: The Frank and Marie Hamilton Charitable Trust
  • General advice with small section on art. "In addition to giving art and other assets to members of your family and to friends, you may also reduce your taxable estate by giving assets to charities. "
  • access the pdf file by clicking the link in the title
Includes: 
  • What Will Happen to Your Art after You Die? by Jeffrey P. Fuller, ASA, Accredited Senior Appraiser, American Society of Appraisers
  • Estate Planning for Artists by Robert Louis, Esq. Saul Ewing LLP
  • Approaching Museums by Michael Schantz, PhD, The Patricia Van Burgh Allison Director and CEO, Woodmere Art Museum 
  • Plan Ahead by Stephen Tarantal Dean, College of Art and Design The University of the Arts ​
A Visual Artist's Guide to Estate Planning ​
This is an American Handbook which is the product of a conference of artists seeking answers to some of the common problems which arise when attempting estate planning. It provides guidance across a wide range of topics in order to assist artists in planning their estates. 

Both the core text and specific documents in the Appendices are available online as pdf documents (see right) You can also buy it as a book (see below)​
Beware that the advice was compiled at the end of the 90s although some is of enduring interest and applicability and an update was done in 2008

Estate Planning for Artists - an Australian Perspective
These are links to some sample wills
  • "Artists In The Black" : Sample Will for Indigenous Artists
    This FREE sample Will for Indigenous Artists has been developed to encourage Indigenous artists to consider what will happen to their artworks, propery and copyright when they pass away, and provide guidance for those who decide to make a will.