Divorce and Distribution of IRA and Retirement Accounts
Given the rate of divorce, it’s critical to address how your retirement assets get handled. The question is “does your spouse have an interest...
You Inherit an IRA, What Do You Do?
Here are the steps, and we’ll discuss them in order of priority:
Separate your portion from other IRA beneficiaries.
Retitle the IRA.
Name a beneficiary.
Move it to...
If You’re a Spouse Beneficiary
The spouse has more options than a non-spouse beneficiary. Here are the four options:
You can rollover the deceased’s IRA to your own. This is...
Disclaimer
When people set up beneficiaries for their IRAs, they don’t know what the future holds. Assume a simple situation where the the IRA owner...
Why It’s Not Only Those Over 70½ Who Are at Risk
Retirees of any age with large IRAs must understand that their IRAs can be hit with estate and income taxes when they die. And...
Why Be Concerned Since the Estate Tax is Supposed to Disappear?
That is not a bet you should make. For even if the tax goes away, the income tax “step-up-in-basis” provision for the most part...
What is the Gift Tax?
The Congress thought about this solution and they enacted the gift tax rules. Essentially, the gift tax rules limit the amount of gifts you...
What is the Estate Tax?
The estate tax is a tax on accumulated wealth. So if you die and you are considered wealthy (by the estate tax rules then...
Trusts as Beneficiary of IRA
Can a trust be the beneficiary of an IRA?
Even though there are no tax benefits, there may be circumstances when you want to name...
What About Charities as IRA Beneficiaries?
You may think that it’s a nice thing to leave some of your unused retirement funds to charity when you go. Generally, this a...