Should I take DH off the ira beneficiary list

sunshine5

As with most couples, I have my husband as one of my beneficiaries. We have children from both our previous marriages but no children together. During 36 children of our marriage, his children have no contact with me even though they live near. My children don’t live near, one out of the country. I have my children as secondary beneficiary on my ira accounts. Now that my husband has been diagnosed with Dementia, I am wondering if I should take him off as beneficiary off my ira.

I had the attorney redraw the will since his dementia diagnosis .

jfkoc

Will he need the money for care in the future?

Pam BH

Was the attorney a CELA (Certified Elder Law Attorney)? If so, they should be able to answer your question. If not, please, please see one.

terei

Your H with dementia should NOT be the direct beneficiary of anything.   Talk to an elder care attorney about how you want this handled.  If you want your H to be supported somehow with your $ if you should die, it will probably have to be done with a trust of some kind.

jfkoc

I was told that an IRA could not be in a trust but you could wthdraw the money, invest it and put that in a trust.

Your lawyer will give you the particulars. Also check to see that the POA is a DPOA.

JJ401

You need to check your state rules. In a few states an IRA of the community spouse, as long as you are making yearly withdrawals, is not considered for long term Medicaid of the spouse.

Also, check whether or not the spouse needs to sign off if he is not the beneficiary. We married late in life. As part of our prenuptial, after marriage, I signed off on his retirement funds and he signed off on mine. By the rules in my state, the spouse is the beneficiary unless they sign off. State rules vary. Yours may not require a sign off.

You really need an elder care lawyer for this. A regular lawyer may not know the ins and outs of the rules. Mine did not.

ElCy

My CELA set up a special needs trust for my husband should I die first. All my been designations  list the trust as the beneficiary.

Jeff86

A trust can be the beneficiary of an IRA.  An attorney can draft a custom beneficiary designation, which may be a trust for the benefit of a spouse.  The IRA custodian will then review the beneficiary language and advise if it can follow the terms outlined in the beneficiary designation.