Practice Areas
Estate Planning
Practice Areas
Writers, composers, actors, and other Studio City creatives often own things a standard estate plan doesn’t mention: copyrights, royalty streams, and years of work stored in online accounts. Alice A. Salvo, a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, builds plans that name who controls that work after you. Her office is in Woodland Hills, west on the 101. Call 818-676-9572.
A copyright is property. Federal law lets you leave it by will, and if you don’t, it passes under the state’s inheritance rules (17 U.S.C. section 201(d)). For work you created on or after January 1, 1978, the copyright lasts for your life plus 70 years (U.S. Copyright Office). A screenplay, a song catalog, or a book can keep earning for two or three generations.
That long tail is why the plan matters. If several children inherit a song catalog with no instructions, each one may need to agree before anyone can license it. Holding your copyrights in a living trust puts one trustee in charge, and you can tell that trustee how to handle licensing requests and who should advise them.
Royalty statements and residual checks don’t stop at death. Someone has to tell each payer who receives future payments, and that person needs legal authority to do it. With a trust, the successor trustee has that authority right away. Without one, payments can sit while the family goes through probate, which is public and can take more than a year.
Make a list of every source: publishers, performing rights organizations, guilds, agents, and distributors. Keep it with your plan. Your trustee will start trust administration from that list.
Drafts, demos, and photos often live only in the cloud. California law decides who can reach them after death (Probate Code section 870 and following). If a provider offers its own tool for naming someone to access your account, the choice you make there generally controls. Otherwise, a clear authorization in your will or trust gives your executor or trustee a path in.
Your plan should say who gets access, to which accounts, and whether old messages should be read or simply closed. Keep a current list of accounts in a safe place, not in the will itself.
Freelance work means contracts, invoices, and checks that need attention even when you’re sick. A durable power of attorney lets someone you trust deposit payments, sign routine paperwork, and keep your business running. Pair it with an advance healthcare directive. Parents of young children should also name a guardian; our Sherman Oaks page covers how that works, and the guardianships page explains the court side.
Alice Salvo holds an LL.M. in Estate Planning from the University of Miami and has received Martindale-Hubbell’s AV rating. Associate attorney Levon Gevorgyan works with her on estate planning and trust matters. Studio City clients can meet in Woodland Hills or by video. The firm also serves Sherman Oaks, North Hollywood, and Encino.
Yes. Federal law lets you leave a copyright by will, and you can also transfer it to a living trust so a single trustee manages it for your children.
For work created on or after January 1, 1978, copyright generally lasts for the author’s life plus 70 years, so royalties can continue long after death.
Under California law, a choice you make in a provider’s own online tool generally controls. Otherwise, your will or trust can authorize your executor or trustee.
Bring a list of your copyrights, royalty sources, and any existing will or trust. Call 818-676-9572 or send a message to set up a planning meeting.
Last updated November 12, 2026. Meet Alice A. Salvo, State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law.