Amending Model IRAs
When the IRS releases a new Model IRA agreement the IRS recommends adoption of the latest mode IRAs (Rev. Proc. 2010-48) but if someone dies and you are looking to the IRA agreement to figure out how to distribute the IRA because all the currently listed benies are deceased do you have to use a version of the IRA agreement the deceased signed to figure out what to do OR do you just asking current holding institution for a “current” copy of their IRA agreement and work from there?
What I see often is no one can find the original signed IRA agreement and I am wondering if the current document at the financial institution overrides old documents anyway so you do not need the original.
Permalink Submitted by Jose Morales on Fri, 2013-09-06 16:06
If the original IRA Agreement with beneficiary designation is missing it most likely won’t make any difference whether you look at the “old” model agreement or the “new” model agreement from the IRS. Most custodians have a prototype agreement that they have either developed in house or purchase from a vendor and the default beneficiary designation in the event one cannot be established is not going to change just because the IRS has updated the model agreement (unless the model agreement is being updated due to a regulatory change that involves default beneficiary designations, which hasn’t happened).