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my dad passed a few months ago, somewhat unexpectedly after a brief but serious illness, so my siblings and I are dealing with the aftermath of not having everything wrapped up in a neat little ribbon. he had an IRA that was paying him a small monthly installment to cover his annual RMD. my mom wanted to transfer the IRA to her own and continue getting the monthly installments, but the custodian is telling us there was no beneficiary designation on file (what? hard to believe my dad didn't do this!) and the only default is to an Estate, and taxable. why wouldn't it be to a spouse? I deal mostly with qualified 401k and retirement plan distributions so an IRA is out of my field of expertise. we continue to search for old documents at the house, but in the meantime am looking for some guidance. is this normal for an IRA? it doesn't make sense that mom will have to get an attorney and set up an estate, go thru probate, have to pay taxes (and legal fees!), etc. thanks!

Dropped working may10 2017; had $18000 401k loan; defaulted this year; no earned income at all this year just WC; how much taxes will I pay on defaulted loan?

Hi, everyone. I have an issue, and I hope you all can help. It is long and complicated, but I appreciate any clarification to help us get this resolved. In 2014, my husband requested a 401K loan from his company. It was approved, and repayment terms were set. We got the money and payments were held every paycheck until January of this year. During this time, my husband's job title and pay changed often, so we never really paid attention to the changes in pay. After the first of the year, I did notice his loan balance wasn't decreasing, so I attempted to contact his benefits person through email and phone various times with no response. In July, we received an envelope with several letters from MassMutual (who has 401K and loan) stating the checks they sent us were never cashed. I had no checks and no clue what this was about. My husband called and was informed his loan was in default and all checks mailed to them from his company had been returned. Upon further investigation, he previous benefits lady had allowed the loan to default but continued to mail the payments to MassMutual, who then returned every payment back to the employer. This went on for over a year, and we never heard a single thing about it from either party. Between the two, they have "found" about 12 checks (out of approx. 26) and reissued them to us. MM told my husband they knew it wasn't his fault and would work with us to reinstate repayment. This was 2 months ago. Yesterday, I received a letter stating the loan was basically refinanced, and for a lovely payment of $900 a month for 2 years, it would be paid. It also said we could default, get a 1099-R and basically call it done. First, $900 is ridiculous and absolutely not a possibility. Second, I distinctly remember getting a 1099-R and paying taxes on the loan amount back in 2014. I verified this with my records, and we paid taxes on the full amount on 2014 taxes. I know we hold some responsibility. I know he was young and dumb to do this to begin with. However, I need HELP!!!! If it was in fact a loan, should we have even gotten the 1099-R? Since we did, can we change it to a early withdrawal and get what money was paid back to the "loan" refunded? Do I need to contact a lawyer, and if so, what specialty?

401(k) Plan. Loans per loan policy repaid through payroll withholding. Participant going through divorce and wants to cease the withholding for loan payments and default. Prior threads (found one from 2008) show no guidance offered and I have not found any guidance. Any thoughts would be welcomed.

We have a PS plan with insurance that pre-dates our involvement. One of the participants dealt directly with the insurance company to take out a loan on the policy in his name and claims that the insurance company says he doesn't need to repay it. I don't understand how he managed to get the loan without the trustees consent, but that is a question for another day. I contend that since it is a plan asset, the loan needs to follow the same rules as any other loan i.e. have a loan agreement with the plan and be repaid in installments over 5 years. The loan is almost 3 years old now and I have been telling the client the whole time that there need to be repayments. I contend that the loan is in default and should be taxable to the participant. Is there any exception to the qualified plan loan rules for insurance????? This is our only PSP with insurance, so maybe there is something I'm missing.