dmertz, rereading your comments I think that you are correct. IRA’s are not considered Qualified Retirement Plans so that section of my father’s Trust does not apply.
From Investopedia:
“A qualified retirement plan is an investment plan offered by an employer that qualifies for tax breaks under the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and ERISA guidelines. Because an individual retirement account (IRA) is not offered by employers, a traditional or Roth IRA is not considered a qualified plan, although they feature many of the same tax benefits for retirement savers.”
Before my father died my father’s attorney gave us both all of the Trust documents on a USB drive in searchable PDF files. I did a search on the word “IRA” and nothing was found so I don’t think there is an IRA section for his Trust. I wonder why? Maybe it means that the Trust follows IRS Guidelines. Even so my father’s Trust follows all 4 See-Through Trust rules and the IRS extended them for the Secure Act. Also, the IRS waived required minimum distributions (RMDs) for inherited IRA beneficiaries in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and again for 2024 which might mean they will waive them permanently.
From Fidelity:
“See-through trust rules Pre-SECURE Act 1.0, a trust needed to meet "see-through" requirements to ensure that as a beneficiary, the trust would qualify for life expectancy stretch provisions. There are 4 requirements to qualify as a see-through trust:
1) The trust must be valid under state law.
2) The trust must be irrevocable or become irrevocable upon the death of the account holder.
3) All of the trust's underlying beneficiaries must be identifiable as being eligible to be designated beneficiaries themselves.
4) copy of the trust must be provided to the custodian by October 31 the following year after the account holder's death.
Post-SECURE Act 1.0, there was some uncertainty as to whether the "see-through" rules will apply because they were not specifically addressed in the SECURE Act legislation. The IRS, however, published proposed regulations in February 2022 which included "see-through" trust rules: These regulations acknowledge the "see-through" trust concept and allow the IRA assets to be withdrawn within a 10-year period.
The IRS waived required minimum distributions (RMDs) for inherited IRA beneficiaries in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and again for 2024. This means that beneficiaries who are subject to the 10-year rule will not face penalties for failing to take an RMD in 2024.“
