Former HCE Death Benefit re-named, Spouse now HCE, count for Top Heavy?

[JWRB]

I've never come across this one before and could use some guidance.  I have an owner who died in 2011.  Spouse decided to keep the money in the plan and re-name it as her own; so the money was never "distributed" formally.  Fast forward, spouse is now an owner/HCE/key.  Question I have is, does the deceased spouse's account balance, now under living spouse, and current key's account, count towards top heavy?

I'm 99% sure it counts, but can't point to an exact provision as to why.  I read through all of the regs on this I could find and nothing jumped out to me as on point.  I'm curious if it's a related rollover and would count as being rolled over/transferred to a plan maintained by the same employer....even though it's the same plan.  I did a search on here but couldn't find anything conclusive (hoping it's not an un-resolved gray area).

Any help is appreciated; thanks in advance!

[duckthing]

I think the discussion in this thread is what you need and I think the consensus is with you. I reason along the same lines as Bird's answer: she's a current key employee, and the funds are 'related' in the rollover sense as they came from the same employer, so they should be included in the TH determination.

[My 2 cents]

Had she promptly taken the money out of the plan and rolled it over to an IRA, by about now they would have passed into legend as far as this plan's Top-Heavy status were concerned.  Since the money never left the plan AND she is an employee, those funds probably count against the top-heavy fraction.

[JWRB]

3 hours ago, duckthing said:

I think the discussion in this thread is what you need and I think the consensus is with you. I reason along the same lines as Bird's answer: she's a current key employee, and the funds are 'related' in the rollover sense as they came from the same employer, so they should be included in the TH determination.

Thanks for the link.  I think I came across the thread prior, but good to know I didn't miss some obvious development in the interim.  

2 hours ago, My 2 cents said:

Had she promptly taken the money out of the plan and rolled it over to an IRA, by about now they would have passed into legend as far as this plan's Top-Heavy status were concerned.  Since the money never left the plan AND she is an employee, those funds probably count against the top-heavy fraction.

Agreed completely.

Alright, case closed for me.  I'm counting it as TH.  Thanks all for your help and confirmation!