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Hello.

My question relates to model releases for the deceased and specifically the question of who can sign on their behalf.

Various sites and web resources seem to slightly disagree. Broadly there are 4 possible answers: Some say that the release should be signed by the "next of kin"; others say a "close relative"; others say that it should be the "heirs"; others say that it should be the "executors of the estate".

Hence my question. Clearly the "next of kin", the "heirs" and the "executors" may be different people. And there may be many close relatives (however closely close is defined).

So how to begin to decide who has ultimate priority (also potentially taking into account the possibility that the laws of the jurisdiction in which the image is finally used may also be a factor) ?

Eg - would hierarchically equivalent 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc cousins have to sign for some shared ancestor ?

Eg - suppose the "next of kin", the "heirs", the "close relatives" and the "executors" are different people. Do they all have to sign ? Who has ultimate say ?

Whilst these are obviously ultimately questions for a lawyer skilled in international rights law, I am hoping to crowd source some opinion and perhaps links here - if only so as to know what questions to ask if and when the time comes for me to talk to a lawyer.