I am trying to sort through the various options related to setting up my estate (living trust, beneficiary trust, named beneficiary, etc.). The bulk of my estate is in retirement funds (IRA, Roth, 401K & a SIMPLE) and my home. My objective is to:

[a] make the funds available upon my death to my non-spouse partner of 30 years, but
[b] have any residual amounts left after her death to pass to my heirs (not hers).

I want to accomplish these objectives while:

[c] paying the least taxes at the time of the estate (of course), and
[d] giving the flexibility to extend the payout as much as is reasonable.

I was looking at a living trust, that would benefit me, then my non-spouse partner, with my heirs as the beneficiaries. My attorney advised me to forego the living trust and use a will that, on my death, sets up an irrevocable trust for the benefit of my non-spouse partner, with my heirs as beneficiaries.

Here’s the background. I am in my later 50s, and my non-spouse partner is in her early 60s. We’ve been together for 30 years, but maintain separate finances. I have long-term care insurance, but she does not. We each own a residence, but live in mine & rent hers. My assets are just over $1M, most of which (75%) is in retirement funds – $500K IRA and about $75 each in a Roth, SIMPLE and 401K. Her assets are roughly $200K, with about $150K in retirement funds (IRA/Roth). We are both in good health. Currently, my IRA accounts name the non-spouse partner as the beneficiary.

I trust this attorney, but not sure how up he is on the tax implications> He’s a genuine & decent fellow, with a son (equally decent) who has been with his practice for 15 years now.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Apologies, as I suspect you’ve answered this or similar questions a thousand times. Trying to sort through trusts is challenging enough. Layer on top of that the various possible tax treatments for IRAs, 401Ks, etc. for non-spouse beneficiaries and it’s just becomes too baffling.