My client’s uncle set up revocable trust and named the trust as the beneficiary of his IRA. The trust assets are distributed to 2 charities MIT and Planned Parenthood so saving on income taxes is not an issue. The trustee has a federal id number for the trust. The trustee just wants to make a claim as the beneficiary and then once he has access to the accounts distribute the assets to the 2 charities. The bank is stating that they can’t open an account for him as trustee because he, himself, not the trust, does not have a social security number.

Have you ever heard of this issue before? Any ideas of how to deal with the bank to get the access distributed to the beneficiaries. Thank you.