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How can I assure her I'll collect monies associated with those projects, and do so without copyright infringements or competition from surviving family members?

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Why can your wife not finish her projects? What does her lawyer and editor say? If they agree and can explain this to her it should help. Maybe they could assure her they will put her money into a fund for her care is she is getting some sort of dementia. And protect her "name" and the integrity of her projects if she is concerned.
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She needs to execute a power of attorney naming you for decisions made before death. And she needs to name you in her will as entitled to receive all copyrights, trademarks, patents and residuals from intellectual property. Is this what she wants?
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When I was under contract to a publisher, I asked the publisher how to prepare for the situation if I died while under contract. I just happened to be updating my will at the time. While this below does NOT address your question while she's alive, I believe jjariz answered that well. Here's my publisher's response (Disclaimer: it's been some years ago, plus the publisher was Canadian and I'm American, and neither of us are lawyers.):

"The contract remains in place and the royalties are paid to the estate. The estate, whoever you declare as executor, for as long as he/she controls the estate. He would then transfer that authority to your declared benefactor, who we would then deal with. We would have to be supplied with instructions from the executor with regards to who took over and where royalties should be sent.

When you have art for sale you should ALWAYS consult with a lawyer regarding them because it can be nebulous, and opens the door to a lot of mess if you don't. Usually the family ends up losing control if it is not specified, so please do include a clause regarding your intellectual property and copyrights. The wording and legal fine print will change from state to state and country to country, but in essence it's the same. Up here, there can also be an inclusion for the benefactor to renew the copyright on the work some point down the line so it doesn't fall into the public domain (unless you want it to be in the public domain).

It's sort of strange that this issue is never discussed in any forums or writing sites, because it should be."
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Amendment to my question, my wife is self published and is near death. A basic will with me as receiving all property I believe would cover intellectual property and copyrights but not certain, she would like me to finish what she started without interference and doesn't want it to fall to public domain as we also have a child whom she'd like to have the benefit of receiving royalties down the road.
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Talk to a lawyer ASAP
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[thinks: can't argue with a confident woman...]

Ask a lawyer to come and draft a will leaving you all of her property, both material and intellectual.

Are you anticipating any sort of challenge to this from outsiders? Do I pick up a hint that an injunction might be in the wind? I hate to tread on anybody's dreams but worrying that royalties from an unfinished self-published work might fall into the wrong hands..?
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