Inherit and IRA from an Inherited IRA
I apologize if this subject has been brought up previously. I have a client who died in 2009. She had a Traditional IRA. Her son inherited it and began taking distribution based upon his life expectancy. He died in 2024 and now his son (the grandson of the original owner) is the new owner. How are distributions calculated for the grandson? Can he continue annual distributions based upon his father’s life expectancy table OR does he have to withdraw the funds within 10 years as his father died after 2020? Thank you.
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2025-07-23 10:25
Actually, grandson needs to do both. He must continue the RMD schedule of his father, reducing the divisor that father would have used if he lived by 1.0 each year, but also must drain the account by the end of 2034. Those annual RMDs will help to avoid a large taxable distribution in 2034.
As with all successor beneficiaries, their age and relationship to the prior beneficiary is irrelevant.
Finally, if his father did not complete his 2024 RMD before passing, grandson has until the end of 2025 to complete that RMD.
Permalink Submitted by David Lutz Jr on Sat, 2025-07-26 13:27
Thank you Alan for your concise answer.