widow, taxes and IRA rollover
I have a client that has recently become a widow, with in the 2012 year. Her husband has a large IRA that she is thinking about rolling over into her own IRA and she is also thinking about doing a Roth IRA conversion with part of the money. I was wondering what your thoughts on this. Being the last year that she will be able to file as “married” (that is my understanding) and with taxes most likely going up next year I think it is a good idea. I would love your thoughts and ideas.
Permalink Submitted by Bruce Steiner on Tue, 2012-05-08 02:36
Since it’s early in the year, if he didn’t have much income this year, she may be able to convert more this year without going into “too high” a bracket than she can in future years. Whether to convert all at once or to spread the conversion over a number of years, and whether to convert or begin to convert now or to wait until retirement, or whether not to convert at all, will depend on various facts which were not given.
She should discuss this with the lawyer handling her husband’s estate, or the lawyer handling her estate planning, who can give her specific advice based upon the facts, and her objectives.