Neil Gaiman has published a free template for writers to use for creating a literary estate. He was inspired by the death of his friend Mike Ford, whose lack of a proper will meant a lot of expense and hardship for the people who loved him. Making a literary will is simple and fast, and every writer should do so:
Others make wills, but don't think to take into account what happens to our literary estate as a separate thing from the disposition of their second-best beds, which means unqualified or uninterested relatives can find themselves in control of everything the author's written. Some of us are just cheap.
All this bothered me, and still bothers me.
Shortly after Mike Ford's death, I spoke to Les Klinger about it. Les is a lawyer, and a very good one, and also an author. I met him through Michael Dirda, and the Baker Street Irregulars (here's Les's Sherlockian webpage).
Les immediately saw my point, understood my crusade and went off and made a document for authors. Especially the lazy sort of authors, or just the ones who haven't quite got around to seeing a lawyer, or who figure that one day it'll all sort itself out, or even the ones to whom it has never occurred that they need to think about this stuff.
(Thanks, Mike!)
