Renaming spouses inherited IRA
Mother has inherited father’s IRA. Mother already has her own IRA. Mother is 83 yrs. old and father was 84 when he died. Both have been taking their yearly withdrawals. Should my mother take my father IRA and just put it in her IRA account or retitle it? Both accounts are with the same broker. If retitled what is the best way of doing so? My mother wants to leave her IRA to her three sons.
Permalink Submitted by mk foss on Fri, 2010-05-28 17:20
The typical way that IRA beneficiaries are named is for each owner to name the spouse first and the children as contingent beneficiaries. The theory is that the surviving spouse will roll the deceased spouse’s IRA over to his/her own, be certain the children are the beneficiaries and then take RMDs until he/she passes away. That way your get the maximum stretch out of benefits.
The mother in this case should roll the IRA into her existing IRA – that’s the simplest solution. If she intends that the father’s IRA be left to someone other than her children – that’s when you need to worry about keeping the inherited IRA separate with a new, correct title.