modification of death pay-out provisions of annuity contract to create inherited ira option

Any advice someone might have on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

“An IRA custodian can limit the options of a non-spouse beneficiary. They could, in fact, offer no stretch and no direct transfer option thus forcing a taxable payout of the inherited IRA.”

https://irahelp.com/slottreport/inherited-iras-when-you-dont-want-check-mail

I’m guessing this is still the case and there is no right we can point to to make a company establish an Inherited IRA.

I am reluctant to enter into an annuity contract (held in a Traditional or Roth IRA) if the terms preclude an Inherited IRA for the beneficiary. Below is the language in the “specimen contract” I have. I am not sure what differences there are between in and the actual contract.

DEATH PAY-OUT PROVISIONS
Annuitant’s Death – The Death Proceeds payable equal the Cash Surrender Value on the Annuitant’s
date of death. If Annuitant and Owner are the same We pay out the entire Death Proceeds in a lump sum
unless:
1) It is payable to the Beneficiary over a 5 year period. Entire Death Proceeds must be paid
within 5 years;
2) The designated Beneficiary is the Owner’s spouse and he or she continues the Contract in his
or her name as new Owner.

DEATH PAY-OUT PROVISIONS [Paragraph 3 = proposed modification]
Annuitant’s Death – The Death Proceeds payable equal the Cash Surrender Value on the Annuitant’s
date of death. If Annuitant and Owner are the same We pay out the entire Death Proceeds in a lump sum
unless:
1) It is payable to the Beneficiary over a 5 year period. Entire Death Proceeds must be paid
within 5 years;
2) The designated Beneficiary is the Owner’s spouse and he or she continues the Contract in his
or her name as new Owner.
3) It is payable to an Inherited IRA or Inherited Roth IRA, whichever is applicable, for the benefit of the designated beneficiary(s); and then upon creation of the Inherited IRA or Inherited Roth IRA, transferred to another financial institution.

From a business standpoint, I can understand if a company does not want to administer a stretch IRA for decades. However, given how advantageous a stretch IRA can be to a beneficiary, it seems like good business to at least give them that option somewhere else. From what I’ve read, it sounds like the Inherited IRA must be created by the company where the annuity was, i.e., the insurance company just can’t send the amount of the death benefit to another company and then the beneficiary titles the Inherited IRA once the funds are received. For example, the Charles Schwab Inherited IRA application has a box for:

“Transfer the assets from an existing Inherited IRA at another financial institution.”

Based on your experience, do you think there are insurance companies out there that would make an exception for a customer who requests an Inherited IRA option? Or do you think the chances are more like slim to none?

Perhaps companies would be more amenable if all they had to do was cut a check to another company instead of directly to the beneficiary. But that isn’t possible, is it? There’s a little more work involved to create and title an Inherited IRA and I’m afraid that might be a deterrent.



  • Yes, there are a number of different issues that could come into play. And in addition to the present issues are the bi partisan proposals in Congress to limit the stretch for non spouse inherited retirement accounts of all kinds. 
  • Inheriting an IRA from an insurance company or certain banks is most likely to result in the beneficiary facing limited options for the stretch. Clearly, if the current custodian is willing to issue a check payable to “Charles Schwab, as custodian for John Smith inherited IRA” this qualifies as a non reportable transfer. But I am not optimistic that many insurance companies would agree to even issue such a transfer check. Couldn’t hurt to ask however. 
  • You are correct that the inherited account must be retitled first, meaning the death Cert and other beneficiary info  must be submitted by the beneficiary before the beneficiary can do any transaction with respect to the inherited IRA. 
  • Many annuity purchasers consider the benefits to them, but not the effects on their beneficiaries when these contracts are inherited. 
  • Now that an IRS PLR has authorized a 1035 exchange for inherited NQ annuities, this could eventually result in lifting restrictions for IRA annuity beneficiaries depending on how these 1035 exchanges work out. Of course,  a 1035 does not apply to IRAs directly.


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