It will be 72 because he would not have reached 70.5 by 12/31/2019 which would have started her beneficiary RMDs in 2019. Therefore, her first beneficiary RMD year will be 2023. Because of that she should elect to assume ownership no later than 2023 since her RMD as owner (if any) will be less than that as beneficiary.

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• Come 2023 she will have to take a beneficiary RMD. If she does not, the default rules apply as before making her the IRA owner even though the account is still titled showing her as beneficiary. She can still elect to assume ownership up to 12/31/2023 and she will then have no 2023 RMD because she is not yet 72. The only way she continues as beneficiary after 2023 is by taking the full beneficiary RMD each year.
• Under the former rules, if a surviving spouse passed after beneficiary RMDs had begun, the beneficiary of that spouse would be treated as a successor beneficiary and would have to continue spouse’s RMD schedule with the 1.0 reduction each year. This would cost a child successor beneficiary their LE stretch. Under the new rules, the child will be subject to the 10 year rule if the child inherits from a beneficiary rather than the account owner. Therefore, if the beneficiary of the surviving spouse would otherwise be an EDB, the spouse should be sure to elect ownership of their spousal inherited IRA to preserve EDB treatment for their beneficiary. As before, sometimes simply failing to complete the beneficiary RMD and defaulting to ownership will benefit the successor beneficiary if that successor qualifies as an EDB.
• Back to your example, if the surviving spouse were to pass prior to RMDs beginning by the end of 2023, the beneficiary of the surviving spouse is treated as an eligible beneficiary if they otherwise qualify. Otherwise, they are subject to the 10 year rule.

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