King & Wood, P.A.

What are the New IRA Distribution Rules?

“The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued much anticipated proposed regulations that clarify and revise some of the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules for qualified plans (i.e., 401ks, 403bs, etc.) and individual retirement accounts (IRAs).”

Many of the proposed distribution rules, which will be subject to further action in late spring, depend upon whether or not the original IRA owner died before or after the appliable required beginning date for distributions. As explained in the article “The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Issues Proposed Minimum Distribution Rules” from The National Law Review, the age changed as a result of the SECURE Act, to 72.

Spousal Beneficiaries. If the spouse of the deceased IRA owner is the sole designated beneficiary and elects not to rollover the distribution, the surviving spouse may take RMDs over the deceased’s life expectancy. However, if the owner died before their required beginning date and the spouse is the sole beneficiary, the spouse may opt to delay distributions until the end of the calendar year in which the owner would have turned 72.

If the decedent died after turning 72, the annual distributions are required for all subsequent years and the spouse may take distributions over the longer remaining life expectancy.

Minor Children Beneficiaries. If the beneficiary of the IRA is a minor child, under age 21, annual distributions are required using the minor child’s life expectancy. When the minor turns 21, they must take annual distributions and the account must be fully distributed ten years after the child’s 21^st birthday.

Adult Children Beneficiaries. If the account owner dies after their required beginning date (age 72), an adult child who is a beneficiary must take annual distributions based on the beneficiary’s life expectancy. The account must be completely emptied within ten years of the original IRA owner’s death.

This applies only to adult children who are beneficiaries and are not disabled or chronically ill. Disabled or chronically ill adult children fall into a different category under the SECURE Act, with different distribution rules.

Special Rules for Roth IRAs. The benefits of Roth IRA accounts remain. There are no minimum distributions from a Roth IRA while the account owner is still living. After the death of the Roth IRA owner, the required minimum distribution rules apply to the Roth IRA, as if the Roth IRA owner died before their required beginning date.

If the sole beneficiary is the Roth IRA owner’s surviving spouse, the surviving spouse may delay distribution until the decedent would have attained their beginning distribution date.

If you own IRAs or other retirement accounts, speak with your estate planning attorney to determine if you need to update your estate plan. There are strategies to protect heirs from the significant tax liabilities these changes may create.

Reference: The National Law Review (March 25, 2022) “The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Issues Proposed Minimum Distribution Rules”

What Can I Do Instead of a Stretch IRA?

“Leaving behind a huge tax bill for your heirs with the stretch IRA scuttled? Here are some ways around it as lawmakers consider an updated SECURE Act.”

The idea of leaving a large inheritance to loved ones is a dream for some parents. However, without careful planning, heirs may end up with a large tax bill. When Congress passed the SECURE Act in December 2019, one of the changes was the end of the stretch IRA, as reported by Kiplinger in a recent article titled “Getting Around the Stretch IRA Block.”

Before the SECURE Act, people who inherited traditional IRAs needed to only take a minimum distribution annually, based on their own life expectancy. The money could grow tax-deferred for the rest of their lives. The tax impact was mild, because withdrawals could be spread out over many years, giving the new owner control over their taxable income. The rules were the same for an inherited Roth IRA. Distributions were based on the heirs’ life expectancy. Roth IRA heirs had the added benefit of not having to pay taxes on withdrawals, since Roth IRAs are funded with post-tax dollars.

After the SECURE Act, inherited traditional and Roth IRAs need to be emptied within ten years. Heirs can wait until the 10th year and empty the account all at once—and end up with a whopping tax bill—or take it out incrementally. However, it has to be emptied within ten years.

There are some exceptions: spouses, disabled or chronically ill individuals, or those who are not more than ten years younger than the original owner can stretch out the distribution of the IRA funds. If an underage minor inherits a traditional IRA, they can stretch it until they reach legal age. At that point, they have to withdraw all the funds in ten years—from age 18 to 28. This may not be the best time for a young person to have access to a large inheritance.

These changes have left many IRA owners looking for alternative ways to leave inheritances and find a work-around for their IRAs to protect their heirs from losing their inheritance to taxes or getting their inheritance at a young age.

For many, the solution is converting their traditional IRA to a Roth, where the IRA owner pays the taxes for their heirs. The strategy is generous and may be more tax efficient if the conversion is done during a time in retirement when the IRA owner’s income is lower, and they may be in a lower tax bracket. The average person receiving an IRA inheritance is around 50, typically peak earning years and the worst time to inherit a taxable asset.

Another way to avoid the stretch IRA is life insurance. Distributions from the IRA can be used to pay premiums on a life insurance policy, with beneficiaries receiving death benefits. The proceeds from the policy are tax-free, although the proceeds are considered part of the policy owner’s estate. With the current federal exemption at $12.06 million for individuals, the state estate tax is the only thing most people will need to worry about.

A Charitable Remainder Trust can also be used to mimic a stretch IRA. A CRT is an irrevocable split-interest trust, providing income to the grantor and designated beneficiaries for up to twenty years or the lifetime of the beneficiaries. Any remaining assets are donated to charity, which must receive at least 10% of the trust’s initial value. If the CRT is named as the IRA beneficiary, the IRA funds are distributed to the CRT upon the owner’s death and the estate gets a charitable estate tax deduction (and not an income tax deduction) for the portion expected to go to the charity. Assets grow within the charitable trust, which pays out a set percentage to beneficiaries each year. The distributions are taxable income for the beneficiaries. There are two types of CRTs: Charitable Remainder Unitrust and a Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust. An estate planning attorney will know which one is best suited for your family.

Reference: Kiplinger (March 3, 2022) “Getting Around the Stretch IRA Block”

What Is the Best Thing to Do with an Inherited IRA?

“Inheriting an IRA from a parent has a unique set of rules you need to know, which will help you make the most of the money you inherit and avoid a tax-time surprise.”

When a parent dies and their adult child inherits a traditional IRA, knowing what to do can be the difference between an inheritance and a tax disaster. Many people take the money from the IRA account and place it into their own IRA. However, that’s a mistake, says the article “How to manage an inherited IRA from a parent” from Sentinel Source.com.

Any inherited IRA, whether it’s from a parent, sibling, or friend, cannot be simply rolled into your own account or treated as if it’s your own IRA. Instead, the assets must be transferred in a timely manner to a new IRA that must be titled as an “Inherited IRA” that includes the name of the deceased owner and the phrase “For the benefit of…” and your name. Different financial institutions may have small variations in how they title the account. However, this seemingly small detail is critical.

If a traditional IRA has more than one beneficiary, it must be split into separate accounts for each beneficiary. Each heir will treat their own inherited portion in the same way, as if they were the sole beneficiary.

It’s the heir’s choice to either set up a new Inherited IRA Beneficiary account with a financial institution or advisor of their own, or to create a new account using the prior institution. Sometimes using the same firm that held the account is easier, as long as the correct title is used.

The new owner of a Beneficiary IRA needs to know the rules to avoid costly penalties. After the SECURE Act became law in December 2019, most beneficiaries are now required to deplete an inherited IRA within ten (10) years of the original account owner’s death. This applies to any inherited IRAs where the owner has died after December 31, 2019.

The prior rules allowed Inherited IRAs to be depleted over the lifetime of the beneficiary, which allowed the accounts to grow tax-deferred and in many cases, be passed to a third generation, often referred to as “Stretch IRAs.” This option is gone.

There are no limits as to how much or how often withdrawals can be taken from the account, as long as it’s depleted in ten years. However, the withdrawals are taxable as regular income, so if you wait until the ten year mark and take out the entire amount, you’ll end up with a hefty tax bill.

There are exceptions to the withdrawal rule. A surviving spouse, a minor child, a disabled or chronically ill beneficiary, or a beneficiary within ten years of age of the original IRA owner may have a little more time to withdraw funds (and pay taxes on the withdrawals).

If inheriting an IRA from a spouse, you may transfer the IRA balance into your own account and delay distributions until age 72.

Consider your IRAs carefully when working with an estate planning attorney on the distribution of your assets. Will your heirs be able to pay the taxes on their inherited IRAs, or should they be converted to Roth IRAs to relieve heirs of a future tax burden? These are questions that your estate planning attorney will be able to address.

Reference: Sentinel Source.com (Sep. 18, 2021) “How to manage an inherited IRA from a parent”

Checklist for Estate Plan’s Success

“Every so often, it’s smart to methodically go through your estate planning documents and see if any tweaks are needed. Here’s a checklist to guide you through that mission.”

We know why estate planning for your assets, family and legacy falls through the cracks. It’s not the thing a new parent wants to think about while cuddling a newborn, or a grandparent wants to think about as they prepare for a family get-together. However, this is an important thing to take care of, advises a recent article from Kiplinger titled “2021 Estate Planning Checkup: Is Your Estate Plan Up to Date?

Every four years, or every time a trigger event occurs—birth, death, marriage, divorce, relocation—the estate plan needs to be reviewed. Reviewing an estate plan is a relatively straightforward matter and neglecting it could lead to undoing strategic tax plans and unnecessary costs.

Moving to a new state? Estate laws are different from state to state, so what works in one state may not be considered valid in another. You’ll also want to update your address, and make sure that family and advisors know where your last will can be found in your new home.

Changes in the law. The last five years have seen an inordinate number of changes to laws that impact retirement accounts and taxes. One big example is the SECURE Act, which eliminated the Stretch IRA, requiring heirs to empty inherited IRA accounts in ten years, instead of over their lifetimes. A strategy that worked great a few years ago no longer works. However, there are other means of protecting your heirs and retirement accounts.

Do you have a Power of Attorney? A POA gives a person you authorize the ability to manage your financial, business, personal and legal affairs, if you become incapacitated. If the POA is old, a bank or investment company may balk at allowing your representative to act on your behalf. If you have one, make sure it’s up to date and the person you named is still the person you want. If you need to make a change, it’s very important that you put it in writing and notify the proper parties.

Health Care Power of Attorney needs to be updated as well. Marriage does not automatically authorize your spouse to speak with doctors, obtain medical records or make medical decisions on your behalf. If you have strong opinions about what procedures you do and do not want, the Health Care POA can document your wishes.

Last Will and Testament is Essential. Your last will needs regular review throughout your lifetime. Has the person you named as an executor four years ago remained in your life, or moved to another state? A last will also names an executor for your property and a guardian for minor children. It also needs to have trust provisions to pay for your children’s upbringing and to protect their inheritance.

Speaking of Trusts. If your estate plan includes trusts, review trustee and successor appointments to be sure they are still appropriate. You should also check on estate and inheritance taxes to ensure that the estate will be able to cover these costs. If you have an irrevocable trust, confirm that the trustee is still ready and able to carry out the duties, including administration, management and tax returns.

Gifting in the Estate Plan. Laws concerning charitable giving also change, so be sure your gifting strategies are still appropriate for your estate. An estate plan review is also a good time to review the organizations you wish to support.

Reference: Kiplinger (July 28, 2021) “2021 Estate Planning Checkup: Is Your Estate Plan Up to Date?

Reviewing Estate Plans Matters

“Many of our parents completed their estate plans decades ago. The documents may still be valid. However, if they are stale or outdated, you may spend significant money trying to use them down the road.”

If your estate plan or your parent’s estate plan hasn’t been reviewed in the last four years—or the last forty years—it’s time for an estate plan check-up—sooner, not later. Besides the potential for costing a lot to correct, says a recent article in Forbes entitled “5 Reasons To Have Your Parents’ Estate Plan Reviewed,” the documents may no longer work to achieve your parent’s wishes.

Rather than fix a messy situation after death, have an experienced estate planning attorney review the documents now. Here’s why.

Stale documents are anathema to financial institutions. If a power of attorney is more than twenty years old, don’t expect it to be received well by a bank or brokerage house. The financial institution will probably want to get an affidavit from the attorney who originally created the document to attest to its validity. Start with a hunt to find said attorney, and then hope that nothing occurs between the time that you request the affidavit and the time it arrives. For one client, the unexpected death of a parent during this process created all kinds of headaches. A regular review and refresh of estate documents would have prevented this issue.

State laws change. Changes to state laws change how estates are handled. They may be positive changes that could benefit your parents and your family. Let’s say your mother’s will leaves all of the contents of her home to numerous people. Locating all of these people becomes costly, especially if the will needs to be probated. Many states now allow for a separate document that lets personal items be disposed of, without being part of the probated estate. However, if the will has not been reviewed in ten or twenty years, you won’t know about this option.

Languages in estate planning documents change. In addition to changes in the law, there are changes to language that may have a big impact on the estate. Many attorneys have changed the language they use for trusts based on the SECURE Act. If your parent has a retirement account payable to a trust, it is critical that this language be modified, so that it complies with the new law. Lacking these updates, your parent’s estate may be subject to an increase in taxes, fees, or penalties.

Estate laws change over time. Recent years have seen major changes to estate law, from the aforementioned SECURE Act to changes in federal exclusions and gift taxes. Is your parent’s estate plan (or yours) in compliance with the new laws? If assets have changed since the last estate plan was done, there may be tax law changes to be incorporated. Are there enough assets available to pay the taxes from the estate or the trusts? If many accounts pass by beneficiary designation, getting beneficiaries to come up with the cash to pay the tax bill may be problematic.

The decedent’s wishes may not be followed, if documents are not updated. Here’s an example. A man came to an estate planning attorney’s office with his father’s will, which had not been updated. His father died, having been predeceased by the father’s sister. The man was the only living child. He and his father had a mutual understanding that the son would inherit the entire estate on the death of his father. However, his father’s sister had also died, and the will stated that her children would receive the sister’s share. The man had to share his inheritance with estranged nieces and nephews. Had the will been reviewed with an attorney, this mishap could have been prevented very easily.

Reference: Forbes (May 25, 2021) “5 Reasons To Have Your Parents’ Estate Plan Reviewed”

What Qualifies as a Qualified Charitable Distribution?

“Qualified Charitable Distributions, which allow Individual Retirement Account holders in their 70s and older to divert some of their federally taxable required distributions to charity while reducing their federally taxable income, are back after a 2020 hiatus.”

Qualified charitable distributions allow individual retirement holders to divert some of their federally taxable required distributions to charity, reports a recent article “A tax break for retirees is back. Here’s how to use it–and what to avoid,” from The Washington Post. Known as QCDs, they were not a big deal until 2017, when a change in the tax law changed the number of people itemizing deductions, including charitable contributions, from 31 percent to 11 percent, according to the IRS.

Tax laws let you put tax-deductible money into “defined contribution” accounts, including IRAs, 401(k)s and 403(b)s, until you reach age 72, when you are required to start taking withdrawals—federally taxable Required Minimum Distributions–from the accounts.

The size of the distribution depends upon the year-end retirement account balances and your age. If you had $100,000 in a retirement account last December 31 and turned 75 this year, the RMD is about $4,370. For an 80-year-old, the number would be around $5,350, and at 85, it would be $6,760.

In 2020, QCDs were of little interest because the CARES Act cancelled any RMD requirements. You could still use a QCD, but there was no tax advantage of reducing taxable income by offsetting required distributions.

In 2021, RMDs are back, and QCDs are worth doing again. To make a QCD, you ask the IRA administrator to send a check made out to a registered charity. You are permitted to donate as much as $100,000 per year. Let’s reinforce the message: the check must be made out to the charity, not to you. You also may not send the money to your own donor-advised fund.

IRAs can be used for QCDs, but not 401(k)s or 403(b)s.

You will need to keep track of the QCDs yourself. Do not expect the IRA custodian to do that for you. The retirement plan does send a tax form, the 1099-Rs, to the IRS that shows your total distributions for the year. The QCDs are subtracted from your 1099-R income by you or your tax preparer.

It sounds great, but there is a problem, created by the SECURE Act of 2019. That law let people aged 70½ and older make tax-deductible contributions to their IRAs. However, if you make a tax-deductible contribution to your IRA that you use for a QCD, it triggers a reduction in the amount of the QCD that you can deduct from your federally taxable income.

Do not make QCDs from the same IRA to which you are making tax-deductible contributions. You can set up a solo 401(k) if you are self-employed or use a SEP-IRA to make deductible contributions.  Here again, trouble lurks; do not make a QCD from a SEP-IRA in the same year you are claiming an income tax deduction for contributing to the SEP-IRA.

Reference: The Washington Post (March 18, 2021) “A tax break for retirees is back. Here’s how to use it–and what to avoid”

The Stretch IRA Is Diminished but Not Completely Gone

“In the pre-SECURE Act universe, there were designated beneficiaries. These beneficiaries could be individuals (sometimes called named beneficiaries), institutions, such as charities, or estates.”

Before the SECURE Act, named beneficiaries who inherited an IRA were able to take distributions over the course of their lifetimes. This allowed the IRA to grow over many years, sometimes decades. This option came to an end in 2019 for most heirs, but not for all, says the recent article “Who is Still Eligible for a Stretch IRA?” from Fed Week.

A quick refresher: the SECURE Act—Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement—was passed in December 2019. Its purpose was, ostensibly, to make retirement savings more accessible for less-advantaged people. Among many other things, it extended the time workers could put savings into IRAs and when they needed to start taking Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).

However, one of the features not welcomed by many, was the change in inherited IRA distributions. Those not eligible for the stretch option must empty the account, no matter its size, within ten years of the death of the original owner. Large IRAs are diminished by the taxes and some individuals are pushed into higher tax brackets as a result.

However, not everyone has lost the ability to use the stretch option, including anyone who inherited an IRA before January 1, 2020. This is who is included in this category:

• Surviving Spouses.
• Minor children of the deceased account owner–but only until they reach the age of majority. Once the minor becomes of legal age, he or she must deplete the IRA within ten years. The only exception is for full-time students, which ends at age 26.
• Disabled individuals. There is a high bar to qualify. The person must meet the total disability definition, which is close to the definition used by Social Security. The person must be unable to engage in any type of employment because of a medically determined or mental impairment that would result in death or to be of chronic duration.
• Chronically ill persons. This is another challenge for qualifying. The individual must meet the same standards used by insurance companies used to qualify policyowners for long-term care coverage. The person must be certified by a treating physician or other licensed health care practitioner as not able to perform at least two activities of daily living or require substantial supervision, due to a cognitive impairment.
• Those who are not more than ten years younger than the deceased account owner. That means any beneficiary, not just someone who was related to the account owner.

What was behind this change? Despite the struggles of most Americans to put aside money for their retirement, which is a looming national crisis, there are trillions of dollars sitting in IRA accounts. Where better to find tax revenue, than in these accounts? Yes, this was a major tax grab for the federal coffers.

Reference: Fed Week (March 3, 2021) “Who is Still Eligible for a Stretch IRA?”

Does a Will Supersede a Beneficiary Form?

“If you haven't reviewed your beneficiary designations recently, you may be setting your heirs and estate up for some unpleasant surprises.”

It’s a simple question: do you know who your retirement account beneficiaries are? These tax-deferred accounts are complex, with significant tax implications for heirs that become more challenging if key information is missing on beneficiary forms, which is often the case. According to this recent article from The Street, “Secure your IRA—Review Your Beneficiary Forms Now,” the SECURE Act was the biggest retirement law change in decades. As a result, there has never been a more important time to review beneficiary forms.

Start by requesting a copy of your beneficiary designation forms from all of the institutions that hold your IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and any tax deferred savings accounts to check for errors and accuracy. Most people fill these forms out when the accounts are opened and never give them a second thought.

The courts see many cases where family dynamics changed, but beneficiary forms were never updated. The cost and stress of estranged or divorced spouses receiving a lifetime of retirement savings because no one thought to update the form cannot be overstated.

It is pretty easy for most of us to locate our wills, trusts and life insurance policies, but we tend not to keep copies of our retirement account beneficiary forms. This makes no sense, as these are the accounts where most people have saved the bulk of their wealth.

Account owners are generally unaware of how important the beneficiary document is, or the consequences of the information being out of date. These documents are more powerful than the will.

These assets pass outside of the will. No matter what your will says, the assets in the accounts pass to whoever is named on the beneficiary form.

If there is no beneficiary named on the form, the asset will likely be paid to your estate. When this happens, the account must be fully distributed within five years of the account owner’s death, if they died before their required beginning date of distributions. If there are no named beneficiaries and the account owner dies on or after the required beginning date, there may be less of a negative impact. An estate planning attorney will be able to help you and your heirs plan for this event.

The SECURE Act made this harder for anyone who dies after 2019. For retirement accounts inherited after December 31, 2019, there are classes of beneficiaries and each has their own distribution rules.

Many trusts named as beneficiaries of IRAs/retirement plans no longer work as planned. If your estate plan named a trust as a beneficiary for a tax-deferred account, speak with your estate planning attorney to make any necessary changes.

The SECURE Act eliminated the use of the “Stretch” IRA for most non-spouse beneficiaries. This means that most heirs will need to empty any inherited accounts within ten years of the death of the owner, rather than stretch the distributions over their own lifetimes. Failure to do so could lead to a 50% penalty of the amount not distributed plus taxes.

Your estate planning attorney may be able to create alternatives to the stretch IRA, but the first step to address this issue is to obtain your beneficiary forms. Once you have them in hand, you can make the necessary changes and begin to plan for the optimal distribution of your assets.

Reference: The Street (Dec. 28, 2020) “Secure your IRA—Review Your Beneficiary Forms Now”

SECURE Act has Changed Special Needs Planning

“An applicable multi-beneficiary trust can solve some--but not all--of the challenges that the new act presents.”

The SECURE Act eliminated the life expectancy payout for inherited IRAs for most people, but it also preserved the life expectancy option for five classes of eligible beneficiaries, referred to as “EDBs” in a recent article from Morningstar.com titled “Providing for Disabled Beneficiaries After the SECURE Act.” Two categories that are considered EDBs are disabled individuals and chronically ill individuals. Estate planning needs to be structured to take advantage of this option.

The first step is to determine if the individual would be considered disabled or chronically ill within the specific definition of the SECURE Act, which uses almost the same definition as that used by the Social Security Administration to determine eligibility for SS disability benefits.

A person is deemed to be “chronically ill” if they are unable to perform at least two activities of daily living or if they require substantial supervision because of cognitive impairment. A licensed healthcare practitioner certifies this status, typically used when a person enters a nursing home and files a long-term health insurance claim.

However, if the disabled or ill person receives any kind of medical care, subsidized housing or benefits under Medicaid or any government programs that are means-tested, an inheritance will disqualify them from receiving these benefits. They will typically need to spend down the inheritance (or have a court authorized trust created to hold the inheritance), which is likely not what the IRA owner had in mind.

Typically, a family member wishing to leave an inheritance to a disabled person leaves the inheritance to a Supplemental Needs Trust or SNT. This allows the individual to continue to receive benefits but can pay for things not covered by the programs, like eyeglasses, dental care, or vacations. However, does the SNT receive the same life expectancy payout treatment as an IRA?

Thanks to a special provision in the SECURE Act that applies only to the disabled and the chronically ill, a SNT that pays nothing to anyone other than the EDB can use the life expectancy payout. The SECURE Act calls this trust an “Applicable Multi-Beneficiary Trust,” or AMBT.

For other types of EDB, like a surviving spouse, the individual must be named either as the sole beneficiary or, if a trust is used, must be the sole beneficiary of a conduit trust to qualify for the life expectancy payout. Under a conduit trust, all distributions from the inherited IRA or other retirement plan must be paid out to the individual more or less as received during their lifetime. However, the SECURE Act removes that requirement for trusts created for the disabled or chronically ill.

However, not all of the SECURE Act’s impact on special needs planning is smooth sailing. The AMBT must provide that nothing may be paid from the trust to anyone but the disabled individual while they are living. What if the required minimum distribution from the inheritance is higher than what the beneficiary needs for any given year? Let’s say the trustee must withdraw an RMD of $60,000, but the disabled person’s needs are only $20,000? The trust is left with $40,000 of gross income, and there is nowhere for the balance of the gross income to go.

In the past, SNTs included a provision that allowed the trustee to pass excess income to other family members and deduct the amount as distributable net income, shifting the tax liability to family members who might be in a lower tax bracket than the trust.

Special Needs Planning under the SECURE Act has raised this and other issues, which can be addressed by an experienced estate planning attorney.

Reference: Morningstar.com (Dec. 9, 2020) “Providing for Disabled Beneficiaries After the SECURE Act”

The Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

“One of the biggest wealth transfers our nation has ever seen is about to take place. Over the next 25 years, as much as $68 trillion of wealth will be passed to succeeding generations.”

Heirs who are prepared to inherit wealth, with families who talk about wealth and have an estate plan, will do better than those who do not, says the West Haven Observer’s recent article “5 Estate planning disasters you’ll want to avoid.” A constantly changing legal and tax environment presents significant challenges, but a few simple steps may save your beneficiaries from the expense and stress of these common estate planning mistakes.

1. Not designating beneficiaries properly. This is one of the most common mistakes, and one that cannot always be fixed. It’s easy to forget whose name you put on a pension or life insurance plan thirty years ago. However, failing to check those beneficiaries, especially if your life has undergone big changes, can lead to the wrong people enjoying the proceeds.

Using beneficiary designations is an excellent way to bypass the process of probate, since assets that pass this way are not subject to probate. Depending upon where you live, probate can be a long, drawn out process. A beneficiary designation is far simpler and more efficient.

Failing to name a beneficiary when setting up bank accounts, opening CDs, and savings accounts is a common error. This can be fixed by making these accounts “TOD,” or Transfer on Death, and the account goes directly to your beneficiary.

Your will does not control any beneficiary designations. That’s why this step is so important.

2-Designating a minor as a beneficiary. You love your grandchildren, but unless they are adults, they cannot inherit assets until they are 18 or 21, depending on the laws of your state. If a minor does receive an asset, the court appoints a guardian to supervise and manage the assets. Your estate planning attorney will advise you on your individual situation, but one alternative is to list a guardian for the minor child inside the will, so the court appoints the person who you choose to manage the property until the child becomes of age.

Another means of providing for young children or grandchildren is to create a trust. The trust names a trustee who is usually a trusted friend or relative who is knowledgeable and responsible. They manage the assets on behalf of the child. The trust also permits assets to pass without probate.

3-Failing to fund a trust. All too often, this is the weak link that breaks the estate. Placing assets within the trust is called funding. Usually this means changing the ownership of bank accounts or real estate from being owned by an individual to being owned by the trust. If the trust is not funded and the will has instructions that seemingly contradict the trust, the asset will need to go through probate and the trust instructions will be ignored.

4-Leaving a tax nightmare for heirs. One of the many advantages of passing on real estate or other assets that appreciate that beneficiaries get a “step up” in basis. That means the heirs are not responsible for any income taxes on the appreciated assets. This can be a very big benefit. There are exceptions—inherited IRAs and 401(k)s don’t have this advantage. However, the recent passage of the SECURE Act has taken away many tax benefits for IRA heirs. Most non-spouse beneficiaries must fully withdraw the entire amount from the IRA or 401(k) within ten years, and the withdrawal is considered ordinary income. It could leave your heirs with a huge, unexpected tax bill.

There is a workaround. By converting some or perhaps all of your retirement accounts to a Roth IRA during your lifetime, you can pay the taxes when converting the IRA to a Roth IRA at your current tax rate, which may be lower than your children or grandchildren’s rate. When you die, any money in the Roth IRA goes to heirs completely tax free.

5-The biggest mistake of all is not having an estate plan. Thinking about your legacy plan, mortality and incapacity is not fun for anyone. However, by spending the time and resources in creating an estate plan, you spare your loved ones from an inordinate amount of stress and expenses, which they will appreciate. One of the best gifts you can give your loved ones is a well-thought out, properly created and executed estate plan.

Reference: West Haven Observer (Nov. 12, 2020) “5 Estate planning disasters you’ll want to avoid”