My elder cousin had an IRA with three segments.
He lived in Washington State when he died. He worked in Minnesota up until he retired and his IRA is held in a company there. He was never married and never had children.
Two of the IRA parts had beneficiaries (his parents) who were deceased. Beneficiary designation was not updated before my cousin died. The third piece of the IRA had a living beneficiary and was dispersed to that person as a lump sum.

The executor of the estate asked the company who holds the IRA if the remaining two parts of the IRA could be carved up into inherited IRAs for the three people who are beneficiaries listed in the Will. They answered no. They stated that since the beneficiaries of the remaining IRA pieces are deceased, the IRA must go to the estate.
The two options given to the executor:

1. Cash out the IRA and take a tax hit, put the funds into the estate.
2. Leave the IRA at the company holding it and take annual RMD, then split the RMD among the three beneficiaries in the Will accordingly.

My question: Can the executor ask that the IRA be transferred to the estate as an inherited IRA for the estate of…and then when the estate is closed, could the inherited IRA be split up to separate IRAs for the beneficiaries of the estate?

Or- Could the executor file a PLR with the IRS requesting that permission be granted to require the company holding the IRA to carve up the IRA into inherited IRAs for the beneficiaries listed in the Will?
Thank you for your advice.