Literary executor of Wm Faulkner's estate doing exactly what he is supposed to do

As I love most classic literature I was pleased to see that a reputable production company has signed a deal with HBO and the literary executor of the estate of William Faulkner, Nobel prizewinner and author of several important novels and short stories. Click here to read the story in http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.

As an estate planning lawyer, I was even more pleased to see that Mr. Faulkner's literary executor is doing exactly what he is supposed to do. How wonderful to hear about an estate success story rather than a headline-grabbing disaster!A literary executor is one who is named in a will to be the custodian of literary works and incidental items such as copyrights, book-to-movie contracts, foreign rights, sales, etc that arise from the literary works.

The literary executor is not necessarily the executor of the deceased's entire estate, though he could be. The literary executor is often chosen because of his knowledge either of the deceased's creative works or his knowledge of the literary world, or both. A similar role may be assigned to an executor for a painter or craftsperson or anyone who creates works of imagination.

Any novelist, story-writer or other creative artist should consider appointing a literary executor for his or her own estate.

The attached photo of Faulkner by Creative Commons was found on the Huffington Post website noted above.