Retirement accounts often represents a sizable portion of a client’s net worth, and properly designating your client’s IRA and other retirement account beneficiaries is critical in successfully implementing any estate plan. Nonetheless, client’s and their advisor’s routinely drop the ball on both the successful design and implementation of retirement plan beneficiaries within their plans. When an IRA does not have a designated beneficiary, most plans require the decedent’s estate to be the default beneficiary. This usually produces unfavorable tax results. Strategies for avoiding this result can significantly improve the client’s wealth transfer, and provide the estate attorney with awesome leverage for further plan integration.
