Help-father died without naming IRA Beneficiary??
My father recently died and left a large amount of money in his traditional IRA. Unfortunately, he never filled out a Beneficiary form when he opened this account. In his will, he left his house to his second wife, but the remainder of his estate to his children from his first marriage. My question is, by law, who will inherit these funds? Would it go to his second wife, or to his estate(children)? Thanks, need help on this one! 🙄
Permalink Submitted by Alan Spross on Wed, 2010-04-14 19:51
Sorry to hear of your loss.
The IRA agreement with respect to any default beneficiary provision must be determined. Some agreements will default to the estate and some may default to the current spouse if any before defaulting to the estate. While rare, inclusion of children in the default ordering might be possible. Therefore, while the IRA custodian should know their beneficiary terms, you should locate the agreement or request one to see exactly what it says.
IF it turns out that his estate becomes the beneficiary, then probate procedures apply to the will and the IRA funds would pass through the estate to the will beneficiaries. You indicate that other than the house, the other assets would go to the children of the first marriage.
When the estate terminates, the IRA can be assigned to the approved beneficiaries. But the children will not be considered DESIGNATED BENEFICIARIES, because the estate was the actual beneficiary. The children’s RMD requirement would be based on father’s remaining life expectancy IF he passed after his RMDs had to begin, but if he passed prior to that date, the IRA will not have an annual RMDs but would have to be drained by the end of the 5th year after the year of his death.