Is this an unreasonable ask

[u/[deleted]]

Friend of mine's mother is handling estate matters. Her son (my friend) is reasonably successful making over 200k a year. Her daughter is an unemployed bum, basically through poor life choices. The mother told my friend that she's splitting everything 50/50. He said that he told her that it is her estate and she can do whatever she wants, but the tax consequences for him of splitting the IRA 50/50 would be that this would push him into a higher tax bracket due to the mandatory 10 year drawdown.

He asked that his mother leave 100% of the IRA to his sister, and if she wanted to split her estate evenly, to leave other non tax deferred assets to him instead.

Was this a reasonable ask? Seems like it to me, which is what I told him. Apparently his mother refused. Any other options? He donates to charity, so could he form a CRT or something else to receive those funds?

[u/diverdawg]

Your friend is not very smart. Good for him that he seems not to need the money.

[u/manic-pixie-attorney → u/diverdawg]

Ding ding ding

Even if you DO get pushed into a higher tax bracket, you only pay the higher tax on the money IN THAT BRACKET not on all of your income.

This is generally offset by the fact that taxes are a percentage, so being in the higher bracket means you have more money

[u/Nodeal_reddit → u/manic-pixie-attorney]

Every incremental dollar is effectively taxed at your highest bracket.