Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits

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Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits

including: The identities, taxpayer identification numbers, addresses, and other information concerning the beneficiaries; and the amount payable to each under any formula in the beneficiary designation form. My Executor’s reasonable fees and expenses in carrying out this instruction shall be paid by my estate. My Executor shall have no responsibility to any person for any error or omission in carrying out the terms of this paragraph that is caused by or is the result of my Executor’s inability to obtain the required information despite reasonable efforts; or that is the result of fraud or misrepresentations of another person; or that arises from changes in valuations or tax treatments as a result of a tax audit.

5.3 Will Provision: Roth IRA Conversions

If an individual dies after converting a traditional retirement plan to a Roth IRA (¶ 5.4) but before the deadline for “recharacterizing” the conversion (see ¶ 5.6 ), the recharacterization election may be made by his executor. See ¶ 4.1.02 . The individual may want to give his executor instructions regarding the Roth IRA conversion. What those instructions are will differ from one individual to another. Here’s one approach; another would be to leave a compensating cash bequest to the beneficiary of the Roth IRA if the executor elects to recharacterize. ARTICLE ____: If I have (within the meaning of § 408A of the Code) “converted” any traditional IRA or retirement plan owned by me to a “Roth IRA,” and during the time that my Executor is serving as such my Executor would be permitted under the IRA documents and applicable regulations to “recharacterize” the transfer as a contribution to a “traditional” IRA, I direct my Executor to exercise its powers with respect to the Roth IRA as follows: My Executor shall bear in mind that my purpose in converting was to provide tax-free income to myself and/or the beneficiary(ies) of the Roth IRA. Accordingly, I direct my Executor not to “recharacterize” any Roth conversion made by me merely because such conversion caused depletion of my estate and/or merely because recharacterization would augment my estate by the amount of the income tax liability on the conversion. Rather, I direct my Executor to exercise my Executor’s discretion to recharacterize any Roth conversion made by me only if one or more of the following conditions exist (any such recharacterization still to be within the discretion of my Executor even if such conditions do exist): Either, (1) my Executor is requested to do so by the beneficiary of the Roth IRA or (2) the value of the Roth IRA has declined by more than five (5%) percent between the date of the conversion and the date of the recharacterization or (3) the loss of the funds required to pay the income taxes on the conversion causes a hardship (in my Executor’s sole judgment) to my estate or the beneficiaries of my estate.

5.4 Fiduciary Letter Transferring Plan Account to Beneficiary

See ¶ 6.1.05 .

To the Plan Administrator of the [NAME OF RETIREMENT PLAN] (hereinafter “the Plan”): Re: Benefits of [NAME OF DECEASED PARTICIPANT], deceased (hereinafter “Participant”) [Alt. 1: From executor, if benefits were payable to participant’s estate]: