A Visual Artist’s Guide to Estate Planning Based on a Conference Co-Sponsored by The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation and The Judith Rothschild Foundation Special Note: Note: Appendicies P, R, T, & U are contianed in this pdf book. All other appendicies may be downloaded from within this book by clicking on the individual items listed in the Table of Contents, and on page 155. If you prefer to download appendicies directly from the website, go to: http://visualartistsguide.com/ and select the Book Download page Part I Copyright 1998 by The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Part II Copyright 1998 by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the written permis- sion of the publisher. For more information contact: The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation 830 North Tejon St., Suite 120 Colorado Springs, CO 80903 (719) 635-3220 www.sharpeartfdn.org This publication is distributed with the understanding that The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, The Judith Rothschild Foundation, and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service in this book. If legal or accounting advice or other expert assistance is required, the ser- vices of a competent professional person should be sought. Further, the views expressed in Part I are the personal expressions of the individual participants at the conference and not necessarily those of The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, The Judith Rothschild Foundation, or the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Part I Prepared by: Wolf, Keens & Company, Inc. 200 North Little Falls St., Suite 303 Falls Church, VA 22046 Project Director: William Keens Project Coordinator: Anne Watson Part II Editor: Barbara Hoffman, Esq., Chair, Committee on Art Law, Association of the Bar of the City of New York Book and Cover Design by Catherine Sandler Printing by McCormick-Armstrong/Williams Division, L.L.C. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 98-61019 ISBN 0-9665188-0-2 a visual artist’s guide to estate planning i table of contents Foreword from The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Artists Advisory Committee...................................................................... v part i: the conference—april 4 & 5, 1997, new york, new york Introduction.............................................................................................. 1 Setting Priorities....................................................................................... 5 Why do I need a will? What should be done with my art work? Who should benefit from my estate? What is important to save? Creating an Art Inventory.......................................................................... 15 What should an inventory of art include? Choosing an Attorney............................................................................... 17 How do I find a lawyer who has experience in dealing with artists’ estates and estate planning for artists? What should I talk about with an attorney? Choosing an Executor............................................................................... 21 What does an executor do? Who can be an executor? What do I tell my executor? Choosing an Accountant.......................................................................... 29 Costs to the Estate................................................................................... 29 How is an executor’s fee determined? How much will storage cost? Do I need to have my work appraised? Maintaining a Reputation......................................................................... 33 How can I help make sure my work continues to be seen? ii a visual artist’s guide to estate planning Can I give my work to a museum? What should I do with my papers? Tax Issues................................................................................................ 43 Will my estate have to pay estate taxes? How will my estate be valued? How will my works of art be valued? How can I minimize any estate taxes on my art work? In a More Perfect World: Changing Public Policy...................................... 50 part ii: legal analysis of issues from the committee on art law, of the association of the bar of the city of new york Introduction............................................................................................. 57 Overview of Tax and Estate Planning....................................................... 61 Commentary on Tax and Estate Planning................................................. 70 Valuation.................................................................................................. 72 The Appraisal........................................................................................... 75 Checklist for Artists’ Gifts of Artwork: A Museum Perspective................. 77 Executor’s or Administrator’s Checklist.................................................... 81 Artists’ Foundations................................................................................. 87 Dorothy Dehner Foundation for the Visual Arts.................................................................................... 91 Mapplethorpe.......................................................................................... 92 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.............................................................. 93 a visual artist’s guide to estate planning iii iv a visual artist’s guide to estate planning Appendix I: New York Living Will (Sample).....Click here to download pdf now Appendix J: New York Health Care Proxy (Sample)...............................................Click here to download pdf now Appendix K: Durable General Power of Attorney— New York Statutory Short Form......................Click here to download pdf now Appendix L: Power of Attorney.......................Click here to download pdf now Appendix M: Living Will..................................Click here to download pdf now Appendix N: Health Care Proxy (with Living Will Directives).............................Click here to download pdf now Appendix O: Health Care Proxy.......................Click here to download pdf now Appendix P: Statement of Client’s Rights............................................... 157 Appendix Q: Committee on Professional Ethics, New York State Bar Association, Opinion 610................................Click here to download pdf now Appendix R: The Estate Project for Artists with AIDS............................. 161 Appendix S: Resource Directory: Organizations and Publications....................................................Click here to download pdf now Appendix T: Visual Artists Estate Planning Conference Participants............................................................................................ 167 Appendix U: Members of the Committee on Art Law............................. 171 Foundation Information......................................................................... 173 a visual artist’s guide to estate planning v forEward No one likes to think about death. Artists are no different in this regard. Many of us have put off making a will. But we have to think about the acres of objects, made by our own hands, which will be our legacy. As Cynthia Carlson said, “If you don’t make a plan, someone else will do it for you.” Although an artist’s estate may contain assets other than art, it is the art that concerns many of us most. Planning for the care, storage, possible sale, or other disposition of our work after we die is a large part of an art- ist’s estate planning. On April 4 and 5, 1997, artists, lawyers, accountants, dealers, and others in the arts met at Philip Pearlstein’s loft in Manhattan. The conference was a culmination of discussions which began in 1990. A Visual Artist’s Guide to Estate Planning is the record of our conference. We intend this book to help you ask the right questions and seek the appropriate advisors, whether you are a poor, neither rich nor poor, or rich artist. We hope that reading about the experiences of other artists will help you clarify your thoughts. Part II contains additional information prepared under the auspices of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Committee on Art Law on estate planning and administration matters. This publication is distributed with the understanding that The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, The Judith Rothschild Foundation, and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service in this book. If legal or accounting advice or other expert assistance is required, the ser- vices of a competent professional person should be sought. Further, the views expressed in Part I are the personal expressions of the individual participants at the conference and not necessarily those of The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, The Judith Rothschild Foundation, or the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. vi a visual artist’s guide to estate planning In the past few years the entire structure of support for the arts and for artists has gone through dramatic changes. With the diminishing involve- ment of the public sector at all levels, artists have increasingly had to rely on the relatively small number of private sponsors willing to step into the breach. Rare among such entities, The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation was organized around the principle that artists know best what artists require to pursue their