They pass outside the will
An IRA or 401(k) does not pass under your will. It passes to the person named on its beneficiary designation form. The governing beneficiary form and plan document usually control, but spousal consent rights, QDROs, disclaimers, slayer and divorce-revocation rules, and federal preemption can affect the result. A trust beneficiary must satisfy the applicable see-through requirements for the beneficiaries’ status to be used under the RMD regulations. This is enormously powerful and enormously easy to get wrong: a form naming an ex-spouse, a predeceased sibling, or no one at all will usually govern at death, and correcting it afterward is limited. Keeping the beneficiary forms current is a low-effort step that decides where a retirement account actually goes — the subject of the beneficiary-audit page.
The SECURE Act shift
For decades a non-spouse heir could “stretch” an inherited IRA over their own life expectancy, spreading the income tax across decades. The SECURE Act ended that for most beneficiaries of owners who die after 2019, replacing it with the 10-year rule: the inherited account must be emptied within ten years of death (IRC § 401(a)(9)(H)). The IRS’s 2024 final regulations (T.D. 10001, effective 2025) added the wrinkle that has confused nearly everyone. Most designated beneficiaries who are not eligible designated beneficiaries must empty the account by December 31 of the tenth year after death. If the owner died on or after the required beginning date, annual life-expectancy distributions generally also apply during years 1-9; if death occurred before the required beginning date, the account generally need only be emptied by year 10. The owner’s applicable RMD age is determined by birth year under IRC § 401(a)(9)(C): generally age 73 for a person born in 1951 through 1959 and age 75 for a person born in 1960 or later. For a person born in 1959, the age-73 treatment reflects proposed Treasury regulations under REG-103529-23 addressing an overlap in the statutory text. The required beginning date, not merely whether withdrawals already began, controls important post-death rules. The full mechanics are on the 10-year-rule page.
Who the rules treat differently
Not everyone is on the 10-year clock. A category called eligible designated beneficiaries can still take distributions over life expectancy: a surviving spouse, a minor child of the account owner (an eligible designated beneficiary until the child reaches majority at age 21, then a 10-year clock), a disabled or chronically ill individual, and a beneficiary not more than ten years younger than the owner (IRC § 401(a)(9)(E)). A surviving spouse has the most options of all, including treating the account as their own. The differences — and why naming the right beneficiary matters so much now — are laid out on the spouse-vs-non-spouse page.
The Roth angle
The 10-year rule taxes traditional-IRA heirs on every dollar they withdraw. A Roth changes the calculus: the original owner pays the income tax up front on a conversion, takes no required distributions during life, and leaves an account that heirs inherit and empty within ten years. Inherited Roth IRA distributions are tax free only to the extent they are qualified under IRC § 408A, including the applicable five-taxable-year requirement. Whether pre-paying that tax helps the next generation depends on whose bracket is higher — the mechanics, and the cases where it backfires, are on the Roth-conversions page.
Annuities inside an IRA
An IRA is already tax-deferred, so an annuity held inside one is purchased for guaranteed income, not for tax deferral — a distinction worth understanding before assuming the two stack. A particular contract, the qualified longevity annuity contract (QLAC), can even push a slice of required distributions out to age 85. How IRA annuities interact with the distribution rules, and which death rules apply, are covered — educationally, without product recommendations — on the annuities-inside-an-IRA page.
These decisions interact with the rest of an estate plan and with each beneficiary’s own tax situation. If you want a professional to model your accounts against your goals, our directory of estate-planning professionals lists people you can verify yourself.
Common questions
Does my will control who gets my IRA?
No. A retirement account passes to whoever is named on its beneficiary designation form, and that form generally overrides your will. The governing beneficiary form and plan document usually control, but spousal consent rights, QDROs, disclaimers, slayer and divorce-revocation rules, and federal preemption can affect the result. If the form names an ex-spouse, or names no one, the account generally follows the form (or the plan's default), regardless of what your will says. Reviewing and updating beneficiary forms is a low-effort step that can prevent a costly misdirection — see the beneficiary-audit page.
Can my children still 'stretch' an inherited IRA over their lifetimes?
Generally no, for deaths after 2019. The SECURE Act replaced the lifetime stretch for most non-spouse beneficiaries with a 10-year rule: the inherited account must be fully distributed within ten years of the owner's death (IRC § 401(a)(9)(H)). Certain 'eligible designated beneficiaries' — a surviving spouse, a minor child of the owner (an eligible designated beneficiary until age 21), a disabled or chronically ill person, or someone not more than ten years younger — can still stretch. Everyone else is on the 10-year clock.
Do I have to take money out every year during those ten years?
It depends on when the owner died relative to their required beginning date. Under the IRS's 2024 final regulations, if the owner died on or after their required beginning date, a non-eligible beneficiary must take annual required distributions in years one through nine and empty the account by year ten. If the owner died before that date, there are no annual RMDs — only the year-ten deadline. These annual RMDs are required beginning in 2025.
Sources & methodology
Methodology & sources
The governing statute is IRC § 401(a)(9), including the 10-year rule at § 401(a)(9)(H) and the eligible-designated-beneficiary categories at § 401(a)(9)(E), linked to the official U.S. Code published by the U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel. The annual-life-expectancy-distribution requirement in years 1-9 turns on whether the owner died on or after the required beginning date and comes from the IRS’s final regulations under § 401(a)(9) (Treasury Decision 10001, July 2024), effective for 2025. The applicable RMD age is birth-year specific — generally 73 for a person born in 1951 through 1959 and 75 for a person born in 1960 or later; for a person born in 1959, the age-73 treatment reflects proposed regulations under REG-103529-23 (see also Notice 2024-35). Statutory links point to the official government source rather than an unofficial mirror. Figures and rules are re-verified on each change in guidance — see our editorial standards.
This page is educational and is not legal, tax, or investment advice. Retirement-account rules interact with your other assets and each beneficiary’s situation; use this to understand the framework and confirm the details with a qualified professional.
Last verified July 29, 2026.
Corrections & updates
- — Legal-accuracy corrections applied and verified against official primary sources (Wave E-1 correction pass): corrected the applicable RMD age to the birth-year rule under IRC § 401(a)(9)(C) (age 73 for a person born 1951-1959, age 75 for 1960 or later, the 1959 case resting on proposed REG-103529-23); tied the years 1-9 annual-distribution requirement to whether the owner died on or after the required beginning date rather than whether withdrawals had begun; fixed the minor-child eligible-designated-beneficiary cutoff to age 21; qualified inherited Roth distributions to IRC § 408A's five-taxable-year rule; and bounded the beneficiary-form statements for spousal consent, QDROs, disclaimers, and trust see-through requirements. Statutory links repointed to official government sources.
- — Reviewer attribution activated (Evan Miller, Esq., Florida Bar No. 112646) and the page-level and related-card verification dates refreshed to July 29, 2026, per the signed Final URL Approval Memorandum.