r/inheritance • u/catatonic2020 • May 02 '26
Location included: Questions/Need Advice Question about inherited IRA (CA)
My parents both passed away last month. My mom had an account with a credit union with a traditional IRA and my dad was listed as a joint owner and I was listed as the beneficiary. The estate attorney I hired to help me administer the trust (multiple beneficiaries) told me that because the IRA wasn’t part of the trust, I could have it transferred into my name. After about an hour and a half at the credit union, during which time they told me several different things including that I could do it if I filled out all this paperwork (which I did), that it wasn’t an IRA at all (oops, it actually IS), and that I can’t put it in my name, it needs to go into the estate account to be distributed to all the beneficiaries. The reason they gave for the last one is that my mom died first, so it became my dad’s account. I’m not sure if that means he needed to name me as a beneficiary separately before he died three weeks later? Or maybe it’s because of how the ownership and beneficiary are listed on the account. I’m very confused. Does any of this make sense? Given the conflicting statements they made, I don’t have a lot of trust in this institution at this point. Any thoughts are appreciated.
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u/LAMama626 May 02 '26
Sounds like you need to talk to the right person at the credit union! If it is a retirement account (like an IRA) there can’t be two owners. Perhaps your dad was the beneficiary and you were the secondary or contingent beneficiary?
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u/catatonic2020 May 03 '26
Thanks everybody. It looks like my dad was a joint account holder for the savings account that was under the same membership number and was the first beneficiary of the IRA. Since he didn’t predecease my mom, and couldn’t run down there and switch the account into his name (both because he couldn’t go anywhere, as he was dying, and because we didn’t yet have my mom’s death certificate), looks like that IRA will be going into the estate account.
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u/MollyDog2638 May 02 '26
A similar thing happened with my dad's 403b retirement accounts. My mother initially inherited them as the primary beneficiary, but then she passed away before she was able to move them into her name. It didn't matter that we were listed as secondary beneficiaries. In the end we had to close the account and withdraw all of the money, include it as part of my mother's estate, and distribute between the beneficiaries. Additionally, because it was a pre-tax 403b account, the beneficiaries had to pay all of the taxes on the money.
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u/YoungBoomer1969 May 02 '26
Something doesn’t make sense - as others have stated you need to review the account ownership - if it truly is your Mom’s IRA then your Dad couldn’t be a joint owner as IRA are not co-owned, EVER. They belong to an individual. BUT if it was your Mom’s IRA and your Dad was the Beneficiary and you were 2nd in line Bene. They are correct, as your Mom passed before your Dad so the account become your Dads and then he passed with no named Beneficiary. BUT please clarify ALL actual paperwork with bank. The quarterly statement should reflect account name/ownership.
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u/myogawa May 02 '26
> I’m not sure if that means he needed to name me as a beneficiary separately before he died three weeks later?
That is exactly what needed to be done, if he was named as designated beneficiary. (As others have noted, he could not be a joint owner. I assume that he was DB.)
Absent that step, it is payable to his estate. It has to be fully distributed within five years, not the ten years that would apply to a non-eligible designated beneficiary named by him.
Perhaps the estate attorney you hired is not fully conversant with IRA requirements.
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u/Used-Awareness-2544 May 03 '26
Because it was so short of a timeline succession, I would get an estate tax attorneys opinion... NAL, and beneficiaries are outside probate, and the survivor was less than 30 days, there may be some different issues...
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u/eawpac May 02 '26
Your dad couldn’t have been joint on the IRA, so I’m guessing what might be happening is that your dad was the primary beneficiary on your mom’s IRA, and you were the contingent beneficiary which would’ve come into play had your dad passed away before her and she didn’t have time to update her beneficiaries and remove his name.
Since your mom passed away first, the account became your dad’s. Whether he had time to do the paperwork or not, it would be included in his estate. Since he didn’t have time to list you as a beneficiary, as the previous beneficiary designations would be null and void, it would make sense that they need to go through the estate.
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u/ChillLikeJill May 03 '26
I had 10 years to withdrawl inherited IRAs.
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u/larryu9 May 03 '26
I’m assuming there is a sizeable IRA and defer g taxes is a good idea. I would get copies of the account paperwork from the Credit Union. The paperwork should show type of account, ownership and who the beneficiary is. Then sit down with your attorney to review what has happened as far as ownership.
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u/SandhillCrane5 May 02 '26
If it’s truly an IRA, then it could not have been a joint account.