Changing IRA Beneficiary From An Estate to The Spouse
To stretch out IRA payments, my uncle changed his IRA beneficiary from his spouse to his daughter. His daughter predeceased him and he did not change the beneficiary back to his wife. My uncle died 6 months after his daughter and upon his death, the IRA passed to his esate, and his wife will inherit it under the laws of intestacy (she is the sole heir). My question is, how can she transfer the IRA into her own existing IRA?
Any suggestions? Thanks, Rick
Permalink Submitted by Alan Spross on Sat, 2012-06-30 16:41
The IRS has allowed spousal rollovers for sole spousal estate beneficiaries for almost two decades now. She can simply take a distribution and roll it over to her own IRA, ie all but the year of death RMD if your uncle did not fulfill that requirement. She would report the rollover on line 15 of Form 1040.
Permalink Submitted by Bruce Steiner on Sun, 2012-07-01 02:54
See my article on this subject in the October 1997 issue of Estate Planning: http://www.kkwc.com/docs/AR20050125164755.pdf .