Inherited IRA Second Beneficiary

Submitted by Eleonora Tomasello on Fri, 2023-10-20 21:39

My client, who is terminally ill, inherited an IRA from his Mom in 2021. An inherited IRA was opened, and he has been taking RMDs based on his age. The beneficiary of this account is his wife. He passed, and I want to confirm the wife’s options.

The wife needs to open an inherited IRA, not an IRA under her name and she will be able to use her lifespan to calculate the RMD. Is this the only option?



Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Fri, 2023-10-20 22:29

  • The client was subject to the 10 year rule, so the wife will have to drain the inherited IRA by the end of 2031. If the mother passed after her RBD, annual RMDs are required in years 1-9 (2022-2030), but the IRS has waived the 2022 and 2023 beneficiary RMDs. So if mother passed after her RBD, the successor beneficiary wife will have to base RMDs starting in 2024 on what would have been the RMD schedule of the client. In other words, use the divisors that would have applied for the client were the client still alive. The wife’s age is immaterial since she cannot use her own life expectancy as a successor beneficiary. Of course, the wife can withdraw any amount greater than these annual RMDs at anytime.
  • Now if mother passed prior to her RBD, all annual beneficiary RMDs can stop, but the account must still be drained no later than 2031.
  • Normally, the inherited IRA of the wife would be registered with her as the beneficiary of the client. Mother’s name can be dropped.


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