Letter Ruling 201128036

• Author: Seymour Goldberg
• Profession: Senior partner in the law firm of Goldberg & Goldberg, P.C., in Woodbury, New York
• Pages: 134-140

134

LETTER RULING

201128036

Letter Ruling 201128036, dated April 21, 2011, involves the death of an

IRA owner af ter her required beginning date naming her estate as t he

IRA beneficiary. In addition, her two children were equal beneficiaries

of her estate.

Key portions of the ruling follow:

LETTER RULING 201128036

As of the date of her death, Decedent D was the owner of IRA A , which

was held by Company R. Decedent D designated her estate as sole ben-

eficiary of I RA A. Accordingly, Estate E is the beneficiar y of I RA A and

as such IRA A was transferred to IR A I, held by Company C in Date 3,

2009. In accordance with Paragraph 8 of Will W, Taxpayer A and Tax-

payer B are entitled to equal one-half sha res of the proceeds IRA A, as it

is part of Decedent D’s residual estate.

In her capacity as Personal Representat ive, Taxpayer A intends to

divide IRA I into two equal one-half shares; one for Taxpayer A and

one for Taxpayer B, re spectively. Th is will be accomplished by means

of a series of trustee-to-tr ustee transfers, into two distinct “sub-

IRAs,” each established as an inherited IRA. Each such inherited IRA

will be maintained in the name of Decedent D for the benefit of one

of the Taxpayers as a beneficiary of Decedent D’s estate. For instance,

it is proposed that one sub-IR A will be ma intained by Company C in

the name of Decedent D for the benefit of Taxpayer A as beneficiary

of Decedent D’s estate. Each sub-IRA created as a result of the divi-

sion of IRA I will receive a pro-rata share of all earnings and interest

calculated up to the date of transfer, which is expected to occur in

2010.

Furthermore, it is intended that the t wo resulting inherited IRAs

will make distributions intended to meet the minimum distribution

requirements of section 401(a)(9) of the Code based on Decedent D’s

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