An NIL deal creates more than income.

An NIL deal can be a first business agreement, a first meaningful source of income and a reason to look into setting up your estate plan.

Start with the deal, not the document package

Before signing, check deliverables, payment conditions, image use, exclusivity, termination, and assignment. Ask what injury, transfer, incapacity, or death changes. The contract determines the answer.

Check the NCAA’s NIL resources and your school’s compliance office. Contract review and estate planning do not establish eligibility.

Separate three different things

• Money received: identify the account owner, taxes to reserve for and what remains available to save or invest.
• Money earned but unpaid: identify the actual right to payment and who could enforce it if the athlete could not act or died.
• Future compensation and licensing: identify what still depends on performance, whether rights continue after death and what can lawfully be transferred.

An estate plan cannot create payment rights or make personal promotional duties transferable.

Plan for a period when you cannot act

Financial authority, healthcare decisions, and information access require separate attention. Review a durable financial power of attorney, patient advocate designation, and information permissions. Being a parent or agent is not a substitute for the required authority.

A financial agent cannot necessarily perform your appearance obligations. A Michigan power of attorney ends at death; an estate representative or trustee then has a different role. See MCL 556.210.

Decide who receives what you own

Review wills, account titles, and beneficiary designations together. A valid designation may control an account outside probate. Review surviving contract rights separately.

A trust may support management, incapacity planning, or inheritance terms. It does not retitle accounts or override contracts by itself. Read about contract rights and trusts ↗

Keep tax planning in its own lane

Cash, products, or services can raise income, self-employment, and multistate tax questions. Keep agreements, receipts, and service locations. Read the IRS NIL tax guidance with your tax professional.

A revocable trust does not eliminate income tax or shield your assets from your creditors. Other structures require their own analysis. See MCL 700.7506.

Bring the plan back when the facts change

Revisit the plan after a new deal, move, transfer, marriage, child, or changed decision-maker. Coordinate the agreement, account ownership, beneficiaries, and existing documents with your advisors.

Reviewed October 15, 2026. The sponsorship is fictional; contract outcomes depend on the agreement and applicable law. Linked official resources provide further reading.