Spouse Beneficiary
The customer passes and the wife is the beneficiary of the IRA. She does not put it in her name. She dies 1) within a few months or 2) three years from now. There are contingencies on the original customer’s IRA. In September in the year after death, is it considered the spouses’ IRA even though she never put it in her name? It then goes to her estate, not the contingents. Please confirm. Thank you!
Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Sat, 2022-01-08 01:06
If the wife does not name her own beneficiary and passes, the IRA would typically pass to her estate. The IRA owner’s contingent beneficiaries do not apply unless the wife’s executor disclaimers the IRA on her behalf within 9 months from the customer’s DOD. That said, the beneficiary clause in the IRA contract should always be checked to see what the default rules are if a beneficiary does not name their own beneficiary before passing.