Can spouse do a rollover IRA even if they weren’t named as beneficiary?
Are there any circumstances in which a spouse can rollover an IRA when the owner failed to name a beneficiary and passed away?
Are there any circumstances in which a spouse can rollover an IRA when the owner failed to name a beneficiary and passed away?
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Mon, 2016-11-07 23:42
Yes, there has been several letter rulings allowing a spouse who inherited through the decedent’s estate to roll over the IRA to their own name. This is easier if the spouse is the sole beneficiary and also the executor of the estate, but these are not requirements. The question is whether the IRA custodian will cooperate in opening an IRA to receive the spousal rollover without a PLR. Also, some IRA agreements include provisions under which a surviving spouse is the default beneficiary and the estate is the default only if there is no surviving spouse. The agreement should always be checked first.
Permalink Submitted by Bruce Steiner on Thu, 2016-11-10 22:16
See my articles on this: http://kkwc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/IRA-Rollovers-Making-this-option-possible.pdf, http://kkwc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/AR20050125164755.pdf