Our new client’s husband suffered a stroke and had no will or trust or POAs. The wife’s new attorney was able to petition the court to create a trust with both of them as grantors but she is the only trustee. she is trying to consolidate about 30 accounts her husband had been managing, including HIS 3 IRAs. She does not want to get a conservatorship in order to get POA as he has been progressing beyond the doctors expectations but has a long way to go. The estate attorney got her a court order and has specific language in the trust about being able to “manage and control retirement accounts”. She told my client it was a very unique approach. The IRAs are held at various mutual fund companies directly. Do you know of any cases or private letter rulings that allow a trust document like this to enable a spouse to manage these IRAs and consolidate to one custodian like Schwab, without being the owner of having a POA? He is 70 and she is 71. My big concern is she thought she would be moving the IRA  into the trust, making it the owner, without taking the money out and making it taxable. (over $4 million).

I’d greatly appreciate any help or resources as she and I are going to talk to her attorney after I do this research with the experts in this group.