Top Earning Dead Writers and Celebrities

Who Pays Taxes After They Die?

Whoever said you can't take it with you forgot to say how much you can leave behind. In these days of digital recordings, digital image creation and estate lawyers, even when you are dead, you can still make money and pay taxes on the money you earned for your estate. Every year since 2001, Forbes magazine has published a list of the 13 top earning dead celebrities and surprise, almost half of them are writers, song writers or novelists.

At the top of the writers list is Charles Schultz. His estate is now valued at 35 million dollars. Most of the money is coming from his Peanut characters selling Met Life Insurance and other product placement advertising. The estate is handled by a cracker-jack team of merchandising lawyers and they will ensure Snoopy stays employed for a very long time.

Next on the list is writer and novelist, J.R.R. Tolkien. Due to the appeal of his "Lord of The Ring" series of novels, "The Hobbit" and the vast marketing campaign for the movies that followed, the Tolkien estate is now worth 23 million dollars. The estate is worth more now than the writer ever made while he was alive.

The next slot on the writer list is filled by Theodor Geisel, or the man we all know better as "Dr. Suess". His books have been translated into 15 languages and over 200 million copies have been sold. Over the years, "The Cat in the Hat" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" have earned the estate of Dr. Suess a total of over 19 million dollars last year, placing him on the list right next to Andy Worhol.

Andy Worhol was famous for his remark that everyone is entitled to 15 minutes of fame and for his painting of the Campbell Soup cans. He was a writer, a pop icon and a graphic artist in his short life time but his work still fascinates those of us left behind. The attendance numbers at the Andy Worhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania continue to illustrate how popular Worhol still is, even several years after his death. With an estate worth over 19 million dollars in 2009, Andy Worhol is in position six on the Forbes list of top earning celebrities.