The purpose of this article is to guide clients through the concept of having a beneficiary or multiple beneficiaries in their accounts with iTrustCapital.
What Is A Beneficiary? What Is The Difference Between Primary And Contingent Beneficiary?
We cover these questions in this article, please feel free to take a look!
How do I add or change my beneficiaries?
You can follow the instructions in this article to add or change your beneficiary designations.
Can I add multiple primary beneficiaries?
Yes! You can select the “Add Primary Beneficiary” button in the Beneficiary menu to add another Primary Beneficiary. You can add as many as you would like, however the designation between the beneficiaries will have to total to 100%. We provide the details to access this menu here.
Can I add a trust as a beneficiary?
Yes! Please follow the instructions in this article to proceed with changing your beneficiary to a Trust.
Can I be my own beneficiary?
No, you may not. The beneficiary must be an individual or entity who will inherit the account upon the death of the account holder, so the account holder can not be named as beneficiary.
What is a spousal consent form? When is it required?
If you live in a community property state and wish to remove your spouse as 100% primary beneficiary for your account, we will need to have your spouse sign a spousal consent form.
The following are community property states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin
If you live in one of these states and wish to name a beneficiary other than your spouse, you will be prompted to download the spousal consent form in the beneficiary section and will need your spouse plus a witness sign the form.
Please note the written consent does not need to be notarized. Once the form has been signed, you will need to upload the form back on your portal in the beneficiary section. The 'Upload' icon is located right next to the download file for the form.
Can I name my child as beneficiary?
While this should be discussed with a financial advisor or estate attorney, clients generally do not name minors (under 18) as beneficiaries due to estate planning complications that could arive when a minor inherits a financial asset.
Do Beneficiaries need to add up to 100%?
Yes, both primary and contingent designations must each add up to 100%. For example, if you name 2 primary beneficiaries and 4 contingent, the primary beneficiaries will have 50% designation each, while the contingent beneficiaries will have 25% designations each.
Can I add a charity as a beneficiary?
Please follow the instructions in this article to proceed with changing your beneficiary to a charity. However, we suggest speaking with a CPA or Licensed Tax Advisor about having a charity as your beneficiary. It will be your responsibility to coordinate with the organization before your passing.
Qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) cannot be made from a decedent’s IRA account post-mortem. A QCD is allowable only if the QCD was initiated prior to the death of the IRA owner (who must have been at least age 70.5 at the time of his or her death). This is the case even if the beneficiary(s) and all interested parties agree on doing a QCD. In other words, a QCD cannot be made from the deceased’s IRA. If a qualifying charity is named as a beneficiary it may have tax implications for the decedent.