IRA Spousal Beneficiary
T-IRA owner, 39, died early this year (2019)
surviving spouse, 39 sole primary bene
spouse will not need to make pre 59 1/2 distributions
Question(s)
main benefit of remaining a spousal beneficiary is to access pre-59 1/2 distribution w/o being assessed 10% penalty
Are there any other benefits to remaining a beneficiary? Or should the spouse make the IRA her own? case closed.
What RMD rules apply – assuming surviving spouse (remains a benef) dies – do her beneficiaries (e.g. her kids) have the ability to “stretch” based of their life expectancy
All help is appreciated
Thank you
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Mon, 2019-05-13 18:33
Avoiding that 10% penalty is usually the only benefit of maintaining an inherited IRA for a spouse. In some cases it can also reduce RMDs for a time if the decedent was younger, but that is not the case here. In this situation if the surviving spouse passes in the year decedent would have reached 70.5 or sooner, the beneficiaries of the surviving spouse will be treated as inheriting from an IRA owner and will receive a full stretch.