What happens to my IRA when I die?
If your spouse is the sole beneficiary of your IRA, your surviving spouse may elect to be treated as the owner and not the beneficiary. If such an election is made, your IRA becomes the IRA of your surviving spouse and becomes subject to the normal distribution requirements of your surviving spouse’s IRAs.
Generally, if you die prior to your required beginning date and you have named persons other than your spouse as a beneficiary, those non-spousal beneficiaries must take all of your IRA distributions by December 31 of the tenth year following your death.
If you die after your attained age, distributions must be made to your beneficiaries in a manner that will distribute the remainder of your account at least as rapidly as it was being distributed before your death.
I am the owner and the annuitant of my non-qualified annuity. What happens to the money I have placed with your company when I die?
If your sole beneficiary is the surviving spouse, your spouse may elect to continue the contract by becoming the new annuitant and owner. By doing so, the surviving spouse continues to enjoy the benefit of income tax deferred growth. If your spouse does not wish to continue the contract, the death benefit is paid to your spouse and the payment is reported to the Internal Revenue Services (IRS).
If the surviving spouse is not the sole beneficiary, the entire annuity must be distributed by December 31 of the year containing the fifth anniversary of death. Alternatively, the beneficiaries may begin distributions to be made over ten years, if those distributions begin by December 31 of the year containing the first anniversary of your death.