Inheriting IRA’s
I have both traditional and ROTH ira’s. My wife is the primary beneficiary of both. She does not have any type ira of her own. She will never work and therefore be unable to establish her own ira’s in the future.
My question is this, when/if she inherits my ira’s will she be able to transfer both ira’s to ira’s of her own. I want her to have all the options that might be available to her. I’m asking this question, because I understand you need earned income to establish an ira and therefore she will never have ira’s to transfer into. Thank you
Permalink Submitted by tomd37 on Wed, 2013-01-02 20:37
I think we need a bit more information as to you and your wife’s age and whether or not you have earned income. I suspect you are both older folks beyond age 70.5 and probably you do not have earned income. Please amplify. Tom D.
Permalink Submitted by R K Brunson on Fri, 2013-01-04 00:44
Tom, I’,m sorry I didn’t give enough infromation. We are both 73 and have no earned income. No prospects that either of us will have earned income in the future. I want to make sure she has access to my funds if/ when the she needs them.Thanks again for your help.
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2013-01-02 22:44
If your wife inherits your TIRA and Roth IRAs, she can roll over the inherited accounts to her own IRAs. She does not need earned income to inherit and do a rollover, and she can establish her own IRAs to receive these rollovers. Unless she inherits these IRAs when she is under 59.5, she should roll over the proceeds without delay. One other situation where she might delay the rollover would be if she is older than you and you passed prior to the year you reach 70.5. Your wife does not have to take RMDs from your Roth if she rolls it over, and for the TIRA her RMDs would be determined by her age starting at 70.5.