Document Type

Article

Publication Date

January 2021

Disciplines

Estates and Trusts | Law

Abstract

One inventory item in megastar Kanye West’s vast portfolio of assets merits a unique sort of care and safeguarding—his right of publicity. The right of publicity is a property interest which represents the commercial value of a celebrity’s name, image, and likeness. In some states, including California, the right survives the celebrity’s death and is freely alienable and devisable. A protective arrangement, such as a trust, is often pursued to impose postmortem use and transferability restrictions on property that has particular importance to the testator. This Article proposes a noncharitable purpose trust as a means by which Kanye West’s right of publicity can be safeguarded and appropriately exploited. After framing a set of hypothetical estate planning objectives for Kanye West and dis-posing of several alternative planning options, a noncharitable purpose trust is described and discussed.

Publication Title

39 Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal 195

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