A prospect has her recently deceased husbands $1.6 million IRA account that was set up naming the family trust as primary beneficiary. The wife is successor trustee. The trust document has 50% going to the wife, and 50% going to the 4 children upon his death according to the wife, but I have not seen the trust document to verify. I suspect it actually may all go to her then the children at her death. Assuming I am right, is it not correct that she would set up a beneficiary IRA for the trust, and name the children primary beneficiaries split evenly? And, that the children could in turn open beneficiary trust IRA’s for themselves, with a final distribution going to their children as remainder beneficiaries?
If they DO want the money split up now and the trust says they can do it, then would we not need to use the look through language in the beneficiary document which would allow us to bypass the trust and just get the dollars into each person’s beneficiary IRA? Please inform – thank you!