Spouse Beneficiary Options

Submitted by Paul Avegno on Thu, 2024-01-11 21:25

I have a surviving spouse client looking to consolidate accounts. When her husband passed away in 2017 we redesignated her inherited IRA here to her own IRA. This wasn’t done at the contra firm, where she holds a beneficiary IRA. After transferring the beneficiary IRA here, can we still move the funds into her own IRA? If so, how?



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Thu, 2024-01-11 22:25

  • She is already the owner if she failed to take the full beneficiary RMD in any year since 2018 under the default rules and she is the sole beneficiary. In that case the balance should be transferred to a new or existing owned IRA ASAP.
  • Otherwise, she can elect to assume ownership of the inherited IRA anytime in 2024 and her 2024 RMD, if any, will be based on the Uniform Table rather than the single life table.
  • Can be more specific if you provide the years of birth of both deceased and surviving spouse.


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