In a recent IRS Letter ruling, a surviving spouse’s disclaimers of property received from his wife during her life were qualified disclaimers (IRS Letter Ruling 201516056). The wife transferred all of the assets of her account to her husband’s account during her life, and also added her husband as a joint owner of a second account while also retaining the right to withdraw assets. The husband proposed to disclaim the assets from both accounts, except for assets purchased or sold from the date of the transfer to the husband’s account. Because the disclaimed property would pass under the residuary clause of the wife’s will to the trust, of which the husband was a co-trustee and beneficiary, the disclaimed property passed to the beneficiaries of the trust without any direction by the husband. Thus, the disclaimers of the property were qualified disclaimers.
See Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, Surviving Spouse Made Qualified Disclaimers, Resourcefullaw.com, 2015.
