per stirpes
If you name a non-spouse as a beneficiary and check per stirpes and he predeceases the ira owner his share of the ira will pass through to his descendants. In this case he doesn’t have any children so I am wondering if his spouse would be considered his descendant or if she would get his half anyway?
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Tue, 2015-03-31 02:54
The beneficiary never had any children and was still named per stirpes? If so, the IRA agreement would have to be checked to determine the default beneficiary. It could be his spouse or his estate.
Permalink Submitted by [email protected] on Wed, 2015-04-01 21:31
So the agreement says that if more than one party is named as a primary beneficiary and a percentage is indicated and a primary beneficiary does not survive you, unless you have checked the “per stirpes” box, the percentage of that beneficiaries designated shares will be divided equally among the surviving primary beneficiary.
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2015-04-01 22:39
That provision only applies if there is more than one primary beneficiary. However, your initial post did not indicate there was any other primary beneficiary. Therefore, there should be another clause in the agreement to address a situation where is no per stirpes beneficiary living and no other primary beneficiary. Check the agreement further.
Permalink Submitted by [email protected] on Mon, 2015-04-13 05:36
In this situation there are two primary non-spouse beneficiaries, both at 50% each. One has decendants and one does not. The one who doesn’t, the IRA owner wants this beneficiaries 50% to go to his spouse should he predecease the IRA owner. So I am trying to figure out if I check the per stirpes for this beneficiary if that will accomplish his wish.
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Mon, 2015-04-13 15:49
The IRA beneficiary clause needs to accomodate listing one beneficiary per stirpes, and a contingent beneficiary for the interest of the other beneficiary that does not have descendants. In other words, each 50% interest needs to be clearly separated. IRA owner should discuss this with the custodian to be sure custodian also feels that the designation is clear.