Greetings.

My father recently passed away at the age of 71. He had a Traditional IRA account with over $700,000.

In his Will, he left all his assets to his wife (my mother), who is 71 years old. These were assets accumulated during their 40-year marriage. He had no previous spouses. His only children (2 sons) were the children of him and his wife.

Unfortunately, no beneficiary was named on the IRA. Therefore, the IRA will now move into Probate. The Probate will be conducted in King County in Washington State.

During Probate, my father’s IRA will move into an estate account. Then the funds will move from the estate account to my mother’s ownership.

My question is this.

How many years does my mother have to take her distributions and pay taxes on the assets that she will receive from the estate account?

One attorney claimed these assets had to be distributed over 5 years, with all taxes paid in that short period of time. Another attorney claimed we could distribute these assets gradually over the course of my mother’s expected life expectancy, paying taxes on each required minimum distribution taken in each year.

My mother obviously would like to distribute these assets over a long time period, as that minimizes her taxation payout and places her in a lower tax bracket.

If there’s anyone here who is well versed on this issue, we would welcome your expertise.

Thank you.