Changing beneficiaries (Bene IRA to TIRA)
**When a spouse inherits an IRA, can the spouse name her own beneficiaries on the beneficiary IRA?
**Spouse was 57 when she inherits her husbands IRA, client now age 59 1/2 and wants to move these funds to her own IRA., can she name her own beneficiaries on her IRA?
It was mentioned that beneficiaries are not allowed to name their own beneficiaries, that the beneficiaries should follow the original IRA???
Any clarification on this would greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Mon, 2016-04-11 21:33
The beneficiary of an IRA should name their own successor beneficiaries ASAP on the inherited IRA or on their own IRA should name designated beneficiaries after the spousal rollover. Beneficiaries certainly can and should name their own successor beneficiaries, but in most cases the beneficiary of a beneficiary must continue the RMD schedule of the first beneficiary, they do not get their own stretch based on their own life expectancy. For this reason a surviving spouse who is subject to beneficiary RMDs should generally roll over the IRA to their own as soon as they reach 59.5. Their beneficiary then becomes a designated beneficiary who will be able to use their own life expectancy when they inherit the IRA.