Spouses have living trust and are co-trustees. Husband is thinking of creating a new Roth in 2020 using existing Roth funds or further IRA conversions to insure that living trust successor trustee has funds to pay all expenses, fees, taxes, gifts, etc. after both spouses die. The final or successor trustee is an adult child. All remaining assets in the trust after deaths will go equally to children.

Both spouses are older than 70 ½

Both are alive in 2020 so SECURE Act applies

All of husband’s Roth’s are over 5 years old or are roll overs from this vintage Roth’s so there should be no taxes to access them for needed funds

Roth money is tax-free so no taxes are due if he needs to use some of it for living expenses and when the successor trustee, provided he has access, needs the funds for final expenses the Roth could provide

Husband wants this Roth to provide funds to the successor trustee for expenses no matter the order either he or wife pass

Husband would still like to make wife the Roth primary beneficiary and assumes that she will outlive me and will do whatever needed to insure that the successor trustee gets the Roth funds

Should husband make the trust the contingent beneficiary now and his wife the primary beneficiary? And if the wife should pass first the trust would get the Roth funds, correct?

If she outlives him what does she have to do, if anything, to get Roth funds to successor trustee ? If she makes the Roth her own does she have to re-add the living trust as primary beneficiary?

If she stays as primary beneficiary does she have to take funds (not desired) and is trust still the final beneficiary?

Thank you for your assistance. :-)))