Inherited IRA and Secure Act

Submitted by Philip Clark on Tue, 2020-07-28 23:47

I have a client whose parents died within a year of each other.

Father died in 2019 and mother in 2020.

Father’s IRA bene was mother and children as successor benes. mother never transfers IRA to her name or opened inherited IRA before passing.

Does the IRA from father qualify for SECURE act status? or can I use stretch rules?

Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2020-07-29 00:15

I think you mean that the the children were contingent beneficiaries. If so. the client might consider having mother’s executor disclaim her interest in the IRA, which would result in the children inheriting in 2019, and avoiding the Secure Act. If they then established separate inherited IRAs, they could start beneficiary RMDs in 2021 using their own life expectancies. But they would also be responsible for completing father’s 2019 RMD if he did not complete it and his RMDs had begun. If that is the case, I would avoid completing that RMD until after any disclaimer had been completed.
Since parents passed so close together, they were probably beyond their RBDs, but please advise if this is not the case. Since mother never named her own beneficiaries, and father’s contingents were voided by his death, the account will pass to mother’s estate. Since Mom passed in 2020, she would be an EDB under the Secure Act, and RMD paid to the estate or assignees from the estate would follow the 10 year rule.
Therefore, the disclaimer by mother’s executor looks to be beneficial for various reasons, but all factors need to be considered including the amount in the IRA, cost of a disclaimer etc. Disclaimer deadline is 9 months following DOD of dad, so may already be too late.

Permalink Submitted by David Mertz on Wed, 2020-07-29 04:06

Wouldn’t the deadline for mom’s executor to disclaim on mom’s behalf be 9 months following DOD of dad (which may have already passed)?

Permalink Submitted by Bruce Steiner on Sat, 2020-08-01 15:19

I had that situation a couple of years ago. H left his IRA to W and W died a few months later without having rolled it over. W’s executors disclaimed on her behalf so the daughter (who was the contingent beneficiary) could get the stretch. The daughter also disclaimed so the grandchildren (who were the next contingent beneficiaries) could get the stretch.

We had to act quickly since the daughter waited a couple of months after W’s death before coming in, and H and W were in Florida which requires court approval for a personal representative to disclaim on behalf of a decedent.

Permalink Submitted by Alan - IRA critic on Wed, 2020-07-29 14:25

Yes, will edit my post.