Gifted Ira separate or community property california?

Submitted by John Black on Fri, 2018-02-23 17:48

If I write the check from my personal account to gift my married sons regular Ira in california into his separate ira that existed before marriage is that years gift separate or community property in california?

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Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Fri, 2018-02-23 18:30

An IRA cannot be gifted. While the owner is alive the only name change allowable would be a transfer incident to divorce to the other spouse. If his current IRA or part of it is transferred to another IRA that he owned prior to marriage, then that IRA would hold commingled assets, some of which would be his separate property and the rest would be community property. The community portion would be subject to a marital settlement, so transferring funds would not help him to preserve assets if the other spouse pursued this IRA money. Many community property settlements can be negotiated such that not all assets are affected.
Any gift you give your son would not be community property unless he commingles it other community property, so there is no need to involve his IRA, even if you could.