Spousal IRA
I am 73 years old. I have both a rollover IRA and A Roth IRA. My wife (we are the same age), is the designated beneficiary on both my IRA’s. My wife does not have an IRA of her own.
My question is–
If/when she inherits my IRA’s will she be able to create IRA’s of her own from the inherited IRA’s? Can you create IRA’s to recieve inherited IRA’s even if you have no earned income?
Thanks for your input
Permalink Submitted by Alan Spross on Tue, 2012-02-07 20:22
Yes, a surviving spouse can assume ownership of the IRA inherited from her spouse. This is most often done by rolling it over to a new IRA account in her name.
No earned income is required, that is only a requirement to make new contributions to an IRA.
She would be in the same position you are now with respect to these IRAs. Her RMD would also be the same as yours for the rollover TIRA unless she is a different age on 12/31 of each year than you are.