RMD rules for split / inherited IRA
scenario: Husband who is taking RMD passes away. Leaving 1/2 of IRA to bypass trust (spouse is trustee), and 1/2 of IRA to spouse (who is also over 70.5).
The spouse may take RMD over her husbands remaining life expectancy or her own.
If I understand correctly, the trust must take RMD based on the Husbands remaining life expectancy?
Now what are the rules regarding which account RMD must come from. If the spouse leaves her half in the husbands name and takes also takes RMD based on his remaining life expectancy. – could she take the full RMD amount for both accounts out of “her” IRA – thus leaving more in the trust for future heirs.
Just like someone who has 3 IRA’s but takes the total RMD out of 1 – not touching the other 2.
Permalink Submitted by Alan Spross on Sun, 2008-02-24 06:19
No, the RMDs cannot be aggregated here because the beneficiary interests are different. In one case it is just the surviving spouse, but for the bypass trust it includes the interests of the specific remainder beneficiaries of the trust. Separate accounts should be created to keep the accounting from becoming a nightmare since both the RMD %s could differ as well as additional discretionery distributions. Both the IRS rules for RMDs apply as well as the trust rules for the particular state with respect to the 50% interest of each beneficial entity.