Answer to a Question others have brought up.

[Betty LaRue]

In the past, occasionally someone would bring up the question of how your relative(s) could continue to profit from your Alamy account if the contributor should die. I don’t remember ever seeing an answer to that other than to email contributor support.

I did that. Here is the answer I received.

So I guess there’s nothing legal involved. I’ll provide my user name and password to my family and carry on. (I hope).

 

Hi Betty, 

Thanks for your email. 

There isn't anything you need to do before hand. Your family would just need to email us and confirm what they would like to do with the account. They could either keep it open, or close the account and have any funds paid. 

I hope the surgery goes well. 

Kind regards, 

Shannon
 

[Dave Nelson]

Thanks for sharing that, Betty.  I've been in and out of the hospital several times over the past year with 3 rounds of surgery, and I kept wondering how that would work.

Good luck with your surgery next month.

[Michael Ventura]

Thank you Betty, I have often wondered about this too.  I hope your January surgery goes super well!

[Betty LaRue]

Thanks, I think it will go well. That said, expect the best and prepare for the worst. I’m also doing a paper with all my passwords to critical things I pay online…bills, etc. Also banking info. I have a will.

Sometimes we think we’ll go on forever, but the reality is we each could be gone in an instant. Heart attack, aneurysm, car wreck, a fall, the list goes on. 
Sudden death is a horrible thing. It almost destroys loved ones. I lost two important men in my family who I was close to. One was in his mid 40s, the other early 50s. Both went to work “supposedly” fine. They died on the job of heart attacks. It’s a horrifying shock that’s hard for the family to recover from. It’s like a bomb goes off in your life and nothing is ever quite the same again. You just try to rearrange the pieces.

[meanderingemu]

thanks.  Interesting that Alamy does not validate that person is rightful owner of the rights.  

 

 

 

good luck on your operation Betty.  

[spacecadet]

9 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

thanks.  Interesting that Alamy does not validate that person is rightful owner of the rights.  

 

 

 

 

I believe there is no need under English law.. Only property (real estate) has to be formally registered by an inheritor, and a bank would ask for a death certificate and a grant of probate, except for funeral expenses. The executor would simply tell Alamy who had inherited the copyright assuming it is not explicitly referred to in the will.

I have explicitly assigned copyright in mine, however. Not strictly necessary, but it draws the attention of the executor to it.

Edited December 15, 2021 by spacecadet

[meanderingemu]

3 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

I believe there is no need under English law, which would presubaly apply. Only property (real estate) has to be formally registered by an inheritor, and a bank would ask for a death certificate and a grant of probate, except for funeral expenses. The executor would simply tell Alamy who had inherited the copyright assuming it is not explicitly referred to in the will.

I have explicitly assigned copyright in mine, however. Not strictly necessary, but it draws the attention of the executor to it.

 

interesting.  And maybe the original answer was based on a leading question from Betty, as Alamy answered "Your family would just need to email us", not your estate.  

 

 

I guess i assumed Alamy would have started a new Contributor contract to at least make sure whoever's name was now on the account validated that they respected clause:

"

• You are responsible for the Content you upload, and you must be the copyright holder, have the copyright holder’s permission, be contractually entitled to distribute the image for its proposed use, or the image must be copyright free"

[Doc]

Good luck and best wishes for that surgery Betty!

 

Kumar

[Robert M Estall]

As ever; best leave instructions rather than just leave things to Alamy and executors to do what they think best. In my case, my partner used to be a picture researcher so she would know the ropes, but our son might not be very clued up. Sadly, the value of the portfolio is not a lot as time passes. A brief note slipped into the envelope enclosing the will ought to be enough. Password might make things easier.

Edited December 15, 2021 by Robert M Estall

[Betty LaRue]

3 hours ago, Robert M Estall said:

As ever; best leave instructions rather than just leave things to Alamy and executors to do what they think best. In my case, my partner used to be a picture researcher so she would know the ropes, but our son might not be very clued up. Sadly, the value of the portfolio is not a lot as time passes. A brief note slipped into the envelope enclosing the will ought to be enough. Password might make things easier.

I agree, one’s port not added to would eventually slip into obscurity unless one has some popular one-of-a-kind images. Even then, with the way prices are going, the small income might not be worth what it costs for extra “business income” tax preparation. I’m horrible with doing my own taxes, and pay to have them done. 
In my case, I have 3 children. One of them would need to take the responsibility of managing the proceeds of my portfolio, then divide the income 3 ways. Who would take the tax hit? Frankly, I’m not sure all of this would be worth the doing. If I were clearing $1000 a month net, yes.  But that’s not happening….and never will.

It might pay to have a conversation with your heirs to see if they are even interested with the bother.

 

[John Mitchell]

Thanks for sharing Alamy's response, Betty. That's useful info. However, as you say, it may not be worth the bother, especially after the recent contract changes (liability, falling prices, inevitable drop to "silver," etc.). Someone on the forum used the analogy of passing the "poison chalice," which unfortunately might not be far from the truth.

 

I hope your surgery goes well. It sounds as if you're well-prepared. I'm certainly glad I bit the bullet and had my hip replaced. If I hadn't, I'd probably be using a Pogo stick to get around by now.

 

As you say, though, life is precarious. I can't help thinking of those devastating tornadoes that just struck the US. They came "out of the blue," so to speak.

[M.Chapman]

10 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

 

interesting.  And maybe the original answer was based on a leading question from Betty, as Alamy answered "Your family would just need to email us", not your estate.  

 

 

I guess i assumed Alamy would have started a new Contributor contract to at least make sure whoever's name was now on the account validated that they respected clause:

"

• You are responsible for the Content you upload, and you must be the copyright holder, have the copyright holder’s permission, be contractually entitled to distribute the image for its proposed use, or the image must be copyright free"

 

Yes, if we pass on the possible revenues from our portfolios, we also pass on the liabilities...

 

Mark

[meanderingemu]

1 minute ago, M.Chapman said:

 

Yes, if we pass on the possible revenues from our portfolios, we also pass on the liabilities...

 

Mark

 

found interesting that according to Betty the US system allows estate to pick and chose on what they want to include.  In Canada it's all or nothing.  So since they likely would have sales after my death, they would have to report them to the Tax authorities, not something they could opt-out from.   

[Mr Standfast]

Good luck Betty.

[Bryan]

Thanks for posting Betty, and thanks also for the illuminating replies.

 

I guess if your beneficiaries are already having to complete tax returns then it's probably easy for them to include the Alamy income, while if not it's possibly not worth the hassle. This thread has made me aware that I need to have some conversations !

 

Hope the Op goes well Betty !

Edited December 16, 2021 by Bryan

[meanderingemu]

One last thing i would add, Try to document these things in a place the executor/liquidator will find easily.  One of the thing I will always be grateful to my mom when she died suddenly, is that she had left me notes with her wills of all accounts she had, with identifiers, including things like her newspaper subscription.  Made my life so much easier as liquidator of the estate in the early stage. 

[Jill Morgan]

If an heir doesn't want the added income (not sure why they wouldn't) then they would simply choose to close the account.  I have mine left to a specific person, so it isn't a hassle later on trying to divide up the paltry dollars.

 

Good luck on the op Betty.

 

Jill

Edited December 16, 2021 by Jill Morgan

[Betty LaRue]

21 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

 

found interesting that according to Betty the US system allows estate to pick and chose on what they want to include.  In Canada it's all or nothing.  So since they likely would have sales after my death, they would have to report them to the Tax authorities, not something they could opt-out from.   

Not sure how you came to that conclusion. Possibly I wasn’t clear. When you say U.S. system, do you mean inheritance or tax?

Tax, yes, if my heirs decide to keep my account open, they must pay taxes on it.

Inheritance, although my will leaves my money, house and goods to my children, if I preferred leaving my Alamy portfolio, or a piece of my jewelry, or virtually anything else to someone besides my children, I can do that. Whoever manages my Alamy account, should they decide to delete my account, they can and will.

Thanks everyone for your well-wishes.

Edited December 16, 2021 by Betty LaRue

[M.Chapman]

23 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

 

found interesting that according to Betty the US system allows estate to pick and chose on what they want to include.  In Canada it's all or nothing.  So since they likely would have sales after my death, they would have to report them to the Tax authorities, not something they could opt-out from.   

I was meaning that we pass on more than just the tax liabilities, as detailed in Alamy Contributor Contract Clause 5.1

 

5.1. You will indemnify, defend (at the request of Alamy) and hold Alamy and its sub-licensees and assigns harmless against any prejudice, damage, liability or costs (including reasonable lawyers’ fees) which any of the indemnified parties incur arising from or in respect of any claim that there has been a breach of your representations, obligations and warranties in this contract. This paragraph will remain in force after the termination of this contract.

 

Mark

[spacecadet]

12 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

I was meaning that we pass on more than just the tax liabilities, as detailed in Alamy Contributor Contract Clause 5.1

 

5.1. You will indemnify, defend (at the request of Alamy) and hold Alamy and its sub-licensees and assigns harmless against any prejudice, damage, liability or costs (including reasonable lawyers’ fees) which any of the indemnified parties incur arising from or in respect of any claim that there has been a breach of your representations, obligations and warranties in this contract. This paragraph will remain in force after the termination of this contract.

 

Mark

s 25.1 binds successors in title.

[meanderingemu]

14 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

I was meaning that we pass on more than just the tax liabilities, as detailed in Alamy Contributor Contract Clause 5.1

 

5.1. You will indemnify, defend (at the request of Alamy) and hold Alamy and its sub-licensees and assigns harmless against any prejudice, damage, liability or costs (including reasonable lawyers’ fees) which any of the indemnified parties incur arising from or in respect of any claim that there has been a breach of your representations, obligations and warranties in this contract. This paragraph will remain in force after the termination of this contract.

 

Mark

 

 

good if your legislation allows the estate to pick and choose what they take.  Where I am, it's all or nothing, so they can't say "ok we will take your Camera equipment and all your savings, but we won't accept the potential liabilities from your distribution of images". 

[NYCat]

38 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

 

good if your legislation allows the estate to pick and choose what they take.  Where I am, it's all or nothing, so they can't say "ok we will take your Camera equipment and all your savings, but we won't accept the potential liabilities from your distribution of images". 

 

So you can't write a will that gives specific items to certain people? It all has to go in a bundle? Can you say half goes to one person and half to another? Seems like you'd have to give things away before you die.

 

Paulette

[Jill Morgan]

3 hours ago, NYCat said:

 

So you can't write a will that gives specific items to certain people? It all has to go in a bundle? Can you say half goes to one person and half to another? Seems like you'd have to give things away before you die.

 

Paulette

 

Yes, Paulette we can divy it all up as we see fit.  I think he is stating the estate can't refuse anything to be included in the estate before it is divided up.  The images are part of the estate, so the liabilities will go with them forever, no matter who they are left to.  So it is possible an image that someone bought and misused 5 years before you died would leave the inheritor liable for any damages even if they had closed the Alamy account. That is of course if you misrepresented in the first place.  Not sure if they could touch the inheritors personal money, but only that of the items and monies of the value of the estate when you died.  An unnlikely scenario, unless you lied about model releases or copyright when you put your images on Alamy.

 

Jill

[NYCat]

1 hour ago, Jill Morgan said:

 

Yes, Paulette we can divy it all up as we see fit.  I think he is stating the estate can't refuse anything to be included in the estate before it is divided up.  The images are part of the estate, so the liabilities will go with them forever, no matter who they are left to.  So it is possible an image that someone bought and misused 5 years before you died would leave the inheritor liable for any damages even if they had closed the Alamy account. That is of course if you misrepresented in the first place.  Not sure if they could touch the inheritors personal money, but only that of the items and monies of the value of the estate when you died.  An unnlikely scenario, unless you lied about model releases or copyright when you put your images on Alamy.

 

Jill

 

I see. Thanks for the explanation. A good question to ask my lawyer when I update my will. Definitely should do that but it's easy to put off. At least I have one and nothing disastrous is likely to happen with the way it is now.

 

Paulette

[Marianne]

Best of luck with the surgery Betty!