Survivng Spouse IRA Bene/ survival time
IRA owner dseignated his wife as his sole IRA bene..no contingent benes named
Survivng spouse was IRA owner’s 2nd marriage and both have children from prior marriages.
IRA Owner died on 8/2/10 surviving spuse died on 4/8/11
No rolloever or distribution to surviving spouse occured during that time period
IRA still held in name of IRA owner.
Q…Does the IRA pass to IRA owner’s Estate now..or to the Surviving Spouse’s Estate?
Does Surviving spouse have to survive for a mandatory period of time before IRA
deemed to go to her?
If deemed to go to her, because did not get distributed or rollovered over before her death,
would her Estate now be the benficiary of the IRA?
Permalink Submitted by Alan Spross on Thu, 2011-07-14 17:06
Since the surviving spouse did not name any successor beneficiary, the IRA will likely go to the surviving spouse’s estate. The only thing that would change that would be if the IRA agreement establishes a different default beneficiary such as a current spouse (none) or children. The agreement should be checked to make sure, but it is highly likely that the estate of the surviving spouse will receive the IRA.
There is no survival period unless the owner specifically included one for the surviving spouse on the beneficiary designation.
You did not ask about RMDs, but to comment on that would need to know each of their DOBs or ages if you do not have DOBs.