How to Inherit a Roth IRA

Depending on their relationship to the borrower, the beneficiary of a Roth IRA has different requirements for distributing the funds.

When you are the beneficiary of a Roth IRA, the custodian of the Roth IRA will need some information from you to retitle the account in your name. Each Roth IRA custodian has its own specific forms that they will require, and they will be able to provide more detailed instruction once you contact them.

Things You'll Need

• Death certificate of the account owner
• Contact information for the Roth IRA custodian

Instructions

1. Contact the Roth IRA custodian to inform them that the account owner has passed away. Ask them to send you the required paperwork to retitle the account in your name. The custodian may have some questions for you at this point to verify your identity, and they should confirm the mailing address that they have on file for you as the beneficiary.

2. Complete the paperwork that the Roth IRA custodian sends to you. If you leave any of the required fields blank, it will delay retitling the account. If you have any questions about the information that is being requested, contact the Roth IRA custodian directly, or ask your financial professional for assistance. When you have completed the paperwork, send it back to the Roth IRA custodian with a certified copy of the account owner's death certificate.

3. Confirm that the Roth IRA custodian receives your paperwork. If you send the paperwork via certified mail or overnight carrier, it will be easier to confirm that the paperwork is in process. The Roth IRA custodian should be able to tell you how long it will take to retitle the account after receiving the paperwork. If that time period passes without being notified that the account has been transferred into your name, follow up by telephone and in writing.

Tips & Warnings

• Whomever made the funeral arrangements for the deceased account owner probably ordered certified copies of the death certificate when the funeral was planned.

• Ask the Roth IRA custodian about anything you don't understand on the account paperwork.

• If you are the spouse of the deceased, you can treat this Roth IRA as if it is your own; you are not required to take distributions from the account.

• A photocopy of the death certificate is usually not acceptable by the Roth IRA custodian. If you are unable to locate a certified copy of the death certificate, contact the state, and they should be able to help you.

• If the address that the Roth IRA custodian has on file for you is incorrect, you may need to work with the financial professional who helped open the account to change your address of record.

References

• Fairmark: Inherited Roth IRA
• Motley Fool: Roth IRA Part V - Beneficiaries, etc.