@dmertz TOTALLY AGREE!!!!
@vista25 best to determine what tax bracket your Mom can stomache and what IRMAA she can stomache. Then do Roth Conversions to bring her taxable income to the top of that tax bracket and to the limit of the chosen IRMAA tranche..
But remember that not converting the Trad IRA to Roth can push the tax liability to the next generation. And if YOU inherit that Trad IRA and you are still working, you may be in an even higher tax bracket than Mom is now (and also, unless Congress does something, tax brackets revert to the 2017 levels in 3 more years). You will have 10 years and RMD requirements (since Mom is already taking RMDs) to liquidate the inherited IRA.
So thinking about it as a family, might be worth Mom taking the tax hits now, so her beneficiaries don't have to take a higher tax hit later. Everyone's financial situation is different, so what works for one may not work for the next.
This is a very complex set of decisions. Not for the faint fo heart.
