Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Nevada

Re: Beneficaries for a Traditational IRA

I am thinking you mean to "leave" part of the IRA to the Trust.

That usually is NOT a good idea. An IRA, by its own nature (as a "qualified account") is a non-probatable asset. The purpose of most Living Trusts is to avoid probate, so there is no advantage to putting any portion of the IRA in the name of the Trust, or to leave it to the Trust. Now, if you have a more complicated plan for distribution of the IRA than you are comfortable specifying in the beneficiary statement of the IRA, perhaps there is some justification for leaving to a Trust that can more thoroughly detail how you wish for it to be disbursed to your intended beneficiaries.

Perhaps you do not wish for an immediate distribution of the account to take place upon your death, and want to include Trust provisions that spread payment out over some time. That may make it logical, too, if you cannot so specify in the IRA, itself.

Check first to see if you can make a detailed beneficiary statement with the account holder that will effect your wishes. If so, let the account stand alone and be distributed without probate, just as Uncle Sam intended.