Divided Interest Copyright Heirship

[crazybooklady]

Greetings all -

We are a small publishing firm located in Texas. Previously all works that we've dealt with have been public domain works. I'm currently working on obtaining permission for a text whose copyright was renewed in 1966. Here's the deal:

Author died in 1968, leaving his entire estate to his wife. (NOTE: Neither the book or its copyright claim was mentioned in the will. It just transferred as personal property along with everything else).

In 1993, his wife died. In her will, she divided her estate equally among 6 beneficiaries. I've been successful in reaching one of them, her son, who has granted permission.

My question: Need I obtain permission from all 6 beneficiaries of the wife's estate or merely a majority? I assume that it's all six but want to double check.

And, of course, all 6 may not be living. If they aren't, I'll need to contact the beneficiaries of each of their wills provided that none died intestate, won't I?

I thank you in advance for your assistance.


-CBL

[seniorjudge]

To transfer any property (real, personal, or mixed) you need permission of all the heirs.

[crazybooklady]

Thank you, seniorjudge.

I'm not trying to transfer ownership of the copyright, though, only requesting permission to use the copyrighted work for republication. Same scenario applies, no? Need all 6 (or heirs of the original 6) to sign off?

[Mr. Knowitall]

Right. You need permission from all of the copyright holders.

[crazybooklady]

I'm back with this same book w/divided heirship nagging at me yet again. New question this time...

To recap, when the author died, he made no mention of the book/copyright in his will. So it passed as personal property with the rest of his estate to his wife.

When she died, she divided her estate equally into SIX shares. She further bequeathed $10k each to twin nieces of hers.

When the will was probated, the twins had a fit. They didn't legally contest the will. They just whined a lot, apparently. The executor just let them split the equivalent of one share of the estate to split in order to avoid the scene that he predicted they'd create if he didn't.

Since the share of the estate, and thus the copyright, was granted by concession of the executor and wasn't explicity willed to the twins as it was everyone else, do they own a fraction of the copyright?

I cannot express how badly I want this thing out of the research/permissions phase!

[aaron]

You would have to examine the probate court documents, and particularly the formal settlement of the estate.

[crazybooklady]

You would have to examine the probate court documents, and particularly the formal settlement of the estate.

Thank you for the response, aaron. I have the entire probate packet and what I've given here is what I gleaned from it. Is there anything in particular that you think I should sniff around for?

[seniorjudge]

Thank you for the response, aaron. I have the entire probate packet and what I've given here is what I gleaned from it. Is there anything in particular that you think I should sniff around for?

If you have the whole probate file, there should be an order or judgment of distribution stating who owned what percent of the personal property.

[seniorjudge]

Thank you, seniorjudge.

I'm not trying to transfer ownership of the copyright, though, only requesting permission to use the copyrighted work for republication. Same scenario applies, no? Need all 6 (or heirs of the original 6) to sign off?

Yes, of course, you are trying to transfer ownership of the copyright (or, at least, a part of it).

And, yes, once again, you need all the heirs to sign.

[calebb]

When she died, she divided her estate equally into SIX shares. She further bequeathed $10k each to twin nieces of hers.

The executor just let them split the equivalent of one share of the estate to split in order to avoid the scene that he predicted they'd create if he didn't.

IANAL, but I might be able to help read between the lines to assist you here.

Read the probate file carefully. Was the estate divided into SEVEN shares or SIX shares? You said that the twins split the equivalent of one share, which implies that her personal property was split SEVEN ways. This seems obvious so why do you specifically state that her estate was split into SIX shares? What is your basis for this conclusion?

(And if the estate was split seven ways with 8 beneficiaries, then it seems that you will need permission from all 8 stakeholders)