When Not to Name Your Spouse the Beneficiary of Your IRA

In most cases, naming your spouse as the beneficiary of your IRA makes the most sense. However, depending on your wishes, other beneficiary arrangements may do a better job of accomplishing your goals. First, let's take a quick look at the requirements and advantages of naming your spouse as the sole beneficiary of your IRA. Choosing another beneficiary will cause you to lose some of these advantages. The first advantage allows the spouse to elect to treat the IRA as his or her own. When the objective is to delay the required minimum distributions (RMDs) for as long as possible, the spouse would generally elect this option. This election allows the spouse to postpone RMDs until they reach age 70 1/2 in the case of a traditional IRA or SEP. RMDs are deferred all the w View the rest of this article