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Hello all, I have an interesting problem that doesn't seem to quite fit into some others that I've found here while searching. Here's the situation: We are a RK vendor for part of a non-ERISA 403(b). A participant died naming her spouse as her primary 100% beneficiary and her parents as 50/50 contingent beneficiaries. Her spouse died 2 days later. Initially, we believed that he passed without having made a designation himself. Per the plan document, the default is spouse, then estate. This would mean his assets now belong to his estate, who wants us to roll it over into an IRA the estate seems to have setup (I know this isn't correct, but it's a topic for another post). It has since been discovered that the spouse was a former participant of the plan on his own and he did have a beneficiary designation dated in 2009. His form named his spouse as 100% primary and his brother as 100% contingent. He took a full distribution of his account in 2016. The TPA firm, and to an extent the client, is trying to say since he took a full distribution years ago, his beneficiary form is basically null and void as the account was 'closed'. The beneficiary form doesn't have any language that would nullify it except upon receipt of a new beneficiary form. My opinion is that his beneficiary form is still valid and in force regardless if he cashed out previously or not. It'd be no different than if someone left service, took a full distribution, and then ended up with a non-elective contribution 8 months later but died in the interim. I've tried digging through IRC and even the EOB trying to find any guidance and have not come up with anything concrete enough to prove my point. Has anyone seen anything like this or have any other places to try looking?

Meeting with ex-W tomorrow. She is plan participant, age 65, retired. She and ex-H divorced 10 years ago, both pro se. Judgment provided for division of her retirement account, but no QDRO was ever drafted. Husband died recently. Daughter of couple is designated as beneficiary. Estate is seeking to recover portion of W's retirement account based upon divorce judgment. Valid claim?

I have a deceased participant, no designated beneficiary, and no spouse/child/parent. We have been making RMD payments to the Estate for several years, and the participant’s brother is the executor (and plan trustee), so he gets the RMD checks and deposits to an estate account. I should probably say this is for a qualified retirement plan, not an IRA. The Plan is now terminating, so the financial advisor is looking to help him roll over the full balance , but is having trouble with what type of rollover account is acceptable (his own firm is questioning). Most literature indicates that non-spousal beneficiaries may only roll to inherited IRA. How does one establish an "inherited" IRA when no designated beneficiaries exist in the first place? Thanks for any input!

Can an estate directly transfer defined contribution retirement plan accounts to inherited IRAs benefiting the estate's beneficiaries in a manner similar to direct transfers from IRAs held by estates? In PLR 201208039 the IRS permitted an estate that was the sole named beneficiary of an IRA to make direct trustee to trustee transfers into separate inherited IRAs (one for each of the estate's beneficiaries). The transfers did not constitue taxable distributons and the beneficiaries were able to defer required minimum distributions over the remaining life expectancy of the decedent. It would be very helpful if similar direct IRA transfers were permitted for defined contribution retirement plans. However, it appears that estates are not permitted to transfer (rollover) retirement plan accounts under Tax Code Section 402©(11)(A) because estates do not qualify as individual designated beneficiaries under Tax Code Section 401(a)(9)(E).