PLR 201212021: IRS Allows Husband To Roll Over Proceeds from Deceased Spouse’s IRA

In PLR 201212021, the decedent fell ill before she could change the beneficiary designation within her IRA from her estate to her husband. The IRS did not apply the general rule, which would treat the IRA as an inherited IRA to the husband, here because the surviving husband was the only beneficiary and the sole executor of the estate. The IRS allowed the husband to roll over the proceeds into a separate IRA.

See Andrew Hodes, PLR 201212021: Decedent’s IRA Will Not Be Treated as an Inherited IRA, Wealth Strategies Journal, Mar. 27, 2012; see also PLR 201212021.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.