Traditional IRA question

[FloridaJim57]

I am retired and have a traditional IRA with Vanguard which is in my name as it was converted from my 401k about five years ago. My question involves my wife being able to access the money should I predecease her. My will clearly says that all financial assets revert to her with my passing. But, is there a way to add my wife's name to the IRA now to make it as easy as possible for her to access the money? I understand that it is not like a savings or checking accout where I can just make it an "and/or account". Can I do anything?

 

[Doribe]

You can add her as a beneficiary.

 

[CardsFan]

Make your wife beneficiary of the account. Do not rely on the will.

 

[racy]

My wife is my primary beneficiary. Our trust is the secondary beneficiary.

 

[Alan]

+1 on making her the beneficiary. Very important I think.

I can’t remember the terminology but you can enable her to have access to your account now. My wife and I did this many years ago and when either of us log in we have access to each others accounts including IRA accounts.

I do remember doing it through our Vanguard rep and having to have the permission documents notarized.

 

[Rianne]

If you want your wife to have full access to all accounts, you have to jump through some security hoops to get there. They send by snail mail documents to be notarized that both agree to this access. And must be accurately complete. We messed up the first time and had to redo. But now we have access to each others Roth, tIRA, and all accounts.

 

[all4j]

I'm a bit confused on your intent perhaps -- either ability to get $ once you have died OR you want her to have ability to view, change etc before you die. Regarding the 1st, you definitely need to designate her as a beneficiary on the IRA. That overrides the will. If there are no beneficiaries listed, then IRA will probably go to the estate where the will determines the owner. However, that may make it such that she isn't considered as "spousal". That affects her ability to combine into her IRA, etc

Call Vanguard today & they should be able to handle either situation

 

[Al18]

Once you make your wife the beneficiary, print out the beneficiary page as proof and keep it with your records.

 

[jebmke]

Note that if you become incapacitated but not dead, in order for your spouse to have access to the account you need to complete an Agency Authorization with Vanguard. Vanguard does not recognize Powers of Attorney that are prepared by your lawyer. Only their form.

 

[RetMD21]

I am retired and have a traditional IRA with Vanguard which is in my name as it was converted from my 401k about five years ago. My question involves my wife being able to access the money should I predecease her. My will clearly says that all financial assets revert to her with my passing. But, is there a way to add my wife's name to the IRA now to make it as easy as possible for her to access the money? I understand that it is not like a savings or checking accout where I can just make it an "and/or account". Can I do anything?

I'm surprised that Vanguard hasn't been bugging you to review and update beneficiary designations. I get that every year. You can easily do it online but I like the idea of printing something out just in case.

 

[rk911]

My wife is my primary beneficiary. Our trust is the secondary beneficiary.

Same with us. We are each others primary and our trust is secondary.

 

[Exchme]

If you want your wife to have full access to all accounts, you have to jump through some security hoops to get there. They send by snail mail documents to be notarized that both agree to this access. And must be accurately complete. We messed up the first time and had to redo. But now we have access to each others Roth, tIRA, and all accounts.

This is what happened to us too. We missed one of the pages where signatures were required and had to start over and get the re-done forms notarized.

Note that if you become incapacitated but not dead, in order for your spouse to have access to the account you need to complete an Agency Authorization with Vanguard. Vanguard does not recognize Powers of Attorney that are prepared by your lawyer. Only their form.

This is exactly why we did it. If I'm incapacitated, my care could be tax deductible, but DW wouldn't legally have access to pull money from the account without the Full Agent Authorization being filled out (I suppose she could me declared incompetent by a judge, but filling out this form is way easier).

Now that it's done, it's also nice to be able to see both sets of accounts when logging on.

 

[Koolau]

Make your wife beneficiary of the account. Do not rely on the will.

Yeah, in fact, with DW as beneficiary, you by-pass the probate process of a will IIRC.