We have a client whose spouse passed away (spouse will not have been 70.5 until 2025). The deceased spouse’s traditional IRA was left to a Marital Trust and the deceased spouse’s Roth IRA was left to a family trust. To our knowledge both the marital trust and family trust meet the requirements to be considered see-through conduit trusts with the income of the trust (including RMDs) being required to be paid to the surviving spouse each year.

The question is, since the accounts are held by the trusts is the ability to defer RMDs until the deceased spouse would have been 70.5 lost? In other words, are the trusts required to take RMDs based on the rules for a non-spouse beneficiary but using the spouse’s age to calculate the factor?

Thank you!