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Sep 1, 2011 12:00 PM
Death by IRA Beneficiary Designation
How the best laid (estate) plans often fail
Individual retirement accounts have long been treated as the proverbial red-headed stepchild of estate planning. Until recently, they were often overlooked, dismissed or disregarded when estate planning was undertaken. But with upwards of $14 trillion in tax-deferred retirement accounts, $4 trillion of which is estimated to be held in IRAs, they've become a force to be reckoned with. According to the Employee Benefits Research Institute in Washington, D.C., IRAs now hold approximately 25 percent of all retirement assets in the United States.
Even now, as estate-planning practitioners have begun to give IRAs their due respect, IRA owners sometimes use a “do it yourself” (DIY) approach and are reluctant to pay attorneys' fees for filling out a beneficiary designation form that they believe they could very well fill out on their own.
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Topics of Interest
| Estate Tax | Donor Advised Funds |
| GSTs | Family Offices |
| Private Foundations | Life Insurance |
| 2010 Tax Act News | Industry Trends Surveys |
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