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Retirement
Plans (i.e. IRAs, roll-over IRAs, 401(k) plans, deferred compensation
and savings plans, 403(b) plans) are counted as part of your estate
for federal Inheritance Tax purposes, but you do not transfer the
"title" of a Retirement Plan to your trust.
You
do not transfer the "title" of a Retirement Plan to your trust because
a Retirement Plan does not go through probate if you have a "beneficiary"
listed on the plan. Moreover, transferring the "title" of a Retirement
Plan to your trust would cause you to have to pay income tax on
the entire plan content since the IRS would view that transfer as
a lump-sum distribution.
Most
commonly, a married person would list their spouse as the "primary"
beneficiary on a Retirement Plan and then list the children as "contingent"
beneficiaries in the event both spouses were to die at the same
time.
If
you are single or widowed, you would list your children as the "primary"
beneficiaries on your Retirement Plan.
If
you are married and have minor children, you would list your spouse
as the "primary" beneficiary and the trust as the "contingent" beneficiary
on your Retirement Plan.
If
you are single or widowed and have minor children, you would list
the trust as the "primary" beneficiary on your Retirement Plan.
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