Trust Beneficiary of QP with Spouse as Sole Trust Bene

[jevd]

I've checked past questions but none exactly like this, We have a Qualifying Trust named as the beneficiary of a qualified plan with a sole spouse beneficiary of the trust. I can see in the final regulations where the spouse in this instance may be used for determining the life expectancy of the living participant but no where do I find a direct authority for this spouse to Rollover the funds to an IRA or other qualified retirement plan. There is an implication in the preamble regarding IRA plans but nothing specific for QPs..

Any thoughts? Citations would be appreciated if any.

Thanks

JEVD

[jaemmons]

Is the participant in pay status (ie.-age 70.5)?

[jevd]

Client is deceased pre RBD. . Spouse age is unknown at this time.

[BPickerCPA]

If the trust provisions permit the trustee to pay the entire account out to the spouse, there are private letter rulings that have permitted rollovers.

Your situation will depend on trust provisions, which cannot be known without reading the trust document. Even if the provisions are "favorable", you will probably still need to get your own PLR.

[Appleby]

There may be an easier way to achieve the desired results.

According to Code Section 2518, a beneficiary that timely disclaims the inherited assets are treated as if he/she/it was never a designated beneficiary of the disclaimed assets. By disclaiming the assets, the trust allows the assets to go to the contingent beneficiary if any (hopefully- this would be the spouse in your case). If there is not contingent beneficiary, then the beneficiary will be designated according to the provisions of the plan document- generally the spouse for qualified plans.

The spouse would then be able to roll the assets to his/her IRA