The Problem of Being Too Rich
Unfortunately, although BAPCPA has created an exemption for all types of retirement plans, the exemption for those plans is not unlimited in all cases....
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...
The Bankruptcy Law
The Bankruptcy Abuse Protection and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) simultaneously increased, in some cases substantially, the creditor protection available to retirement accounts...
IRAs—The Missing Link in Many Seniors’ Estate Plans
According to the IRS, 43 million people have $2.7 trillion in retirement accounts. Most of this money will become IRA rollovers, and the dollars...
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...
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...
Spousal Advantages
When it comes to the spouse inheriting the IRA, the spouse gets special flexibility. (This should make you feel good that you’ll be dead...
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...
Basic Retirement Account Rules Under Bunkruptcy
Under the new rules of BAPCPA, virtually all types of retirement accounts are now exempt assets in bankruptcy proceedings. This was accomplished by adding...
Properly Naming Beneficiaries
The Stretch IRA
The stretch IRA is the ability of the named beneficiaries to spread required post-death distributions over their life expectancy according to the...