Naming Your Spouse as the Primary Beneficiary for an IRA Account Explained by Orange County Estate Planning Attorney James F. Roberts
How Taxes Play A Role In Why You Should Be Naming Your Spouse as Primary Beneficiary for an IRA Account
One of the issues that often comes up is who should be the primary beneficiary of your 401k and IRAs. 401ks are referred to as qualified funds because they are qualified under ARISA which means you’re never paid income tax on it by definition if you are married your spouse has to be your primary beneficiary of any qualified funds unless your spouse signs the consent form waving their right to be the beneficiary. For most people we want the beneficiary of your 401k and IRAs to be your spouse there are some exceptions and we will talk about that in later videos.
We also offer a regularly scheduled seminar in our office to help people determine what the best options are for them in their estate planning needs. We hope you sign up for one of our seminars to help you find your best options. We regularly conduct free seminars designed to teach about the benefits of creating an estate plan. The seminars are held on-site at our Anaheim office inside of our “classroom”. We offer light snacks and refreshments to the attendees and the group is often small and intimate, which allows for questions to be asked comfortably and for a very relaxed environment. Please encourage your loved ones to attend the seminar so that they may learn more about the estate planning process and benefits.