A jury trial is underway in Kingston, New York, to determine who will control the estate of Billy Name, the artist and photographer who lived with Andy Warhol in the 1960s and documented the Factory scene. Name died in 2016, and two competing wills have emerged: one from 2011 naming his niece Suzette Linich as executor, and another from 2015 naming his agent Dagon James. Linich argues Name lacked mental capacity when signing the later will, while James insists Name was lucid and fit.
The outcome will decide who holds the rights to license and publish Name’s extensive archive of photographs and negatives, which capture a pivotal era in Warhol’s Silver Factory. This case matters because it highlights the legal complexities surrounding artists’ estates and the control of culturally significant archives, especially when multiple wills and questions of mental competency are involved. The resolution could set a precedent for how similar disputes over artists’ legacies are handled.