Retirement tax questions

I'm sorry - I wasn't clear. The estate hasn't been finalized and I am under no current obligation to make any distributions because the estate hasn't been finalized. It appears I do have some discretion to make preliminary distributions, though, and I was contemplating making those only to the beneficiaries who wanted to incur the tax liability on their returns. For those that don't, the estate would pay tax on the income that wasn't distributed.