Hey there.  My first post here.  I was just thinking about this today and was wondering if I may have stumbled upon a not often used or discussed method of wealth transference.  Let’s say the client has a substantial IRA of $2m.  They are deemed to be terminal with death being relatively imminent.  Would it make sense to convert the whole IRA to a Roth.  This would work if they had the liquidity in the estate to pay the taxes.  Here in CA that would be about a 50% tax State and Fed.  This way the beneficiary inherits the $2m tax free.  If they were to inherit the $2m taxable with the 10 year rule that could add $200k plus to their taxable income over the next 10 years. Putting them in a much higher tax bracket and potential IRMAA surcharges if they are on Medicare.   And if the decedent was taking RMDs the beneficiary will take RMDs based on their life expectancy which would be less than the decedent and year ten could be a huge tax hit if they only took RMDs years 1-9.  Does this make sense?

Jim