IRA beneficiary change

[aubailey]

My mother has a small IRA that I would like to see her leave to our daughter so she can benefit from the extended time for RMD's. Is it just a matter of changing the beneficiary on the IRA document or is a will change also necessary? Thanks in advance for any help with this question.

[GrayHare]

The beneficiary designation of an IRA overrides what is in a will. You should not need to change the will.

[pb4uski]

+1

[nun]

Yes a change in a beneficiary designation does not require a change in the will. In fact you shouldn't include any of your retirement accounts in your will, just make sure your beneficiary designations are all complete and up to date. You can usually do that online.

[Brat]

If the deceased was taking MRDs isn't the withdrawal rate fixed, not impacted by the age of the heir?

[jclarksnakes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brat If the deceased was taking MRDs isn't the withdrawal rate fixed, not impacted by the age of the heir?

In the case of a nonspousal inherited IRA if the original owner was already taking RMDs the new inheriting owner has to start taking RMDs the year after the inheritance at the IRS mandated percantage based upon the NEW owners age rather than the original owners age. There is one exception to this. If the original owner had not taken an RMD for the year of death the new owner has to take that RMD at the rate the original owner would have had to take it. The new owner would then switch to taking RMDs at the rate for his age the following year.