Early Withdrawal from Roth IRA for child birth

[tivo44]

1) Does the child birth exception include a $5k distribution from a Roth IRA?

2) If I rolled over money from my existing Roth IRA into my spouses IRA, can I immediately withdraw $5k from each account to avoid the 10% penalty (and only pay income taxes) or is there a warning period or rule against this?

[VolvoGirl]

You can not roll your IRA into your spouse’s IRA.  IRA stands for Individual.   They are completely separate.  @dmertz 

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

First, you can withdraw contributions at any time from a Roth IRA without needing a reason or owning tax.  If you withdraw amounts that were previously converted from a traditional IRA less than 5 years after the conversion, you will owe a 10% penalty.  If you withdraw earnings before age 59-1/2, you owe income tax plus a 10% penalty.  You are always considered to withdraw contributions first, conversions second, and earnings last.

The childbirth exception means you can withdraw up to $5000 per person and not pay the 10% penalty.  But this only comes into play if you actually owe a penalty, because you are withdrawing conversions or earnings.  IF you are only withdrawing your contributions, you can withdraw as much as you want and not pay tax or penalty and not use the childbirth rule.

You can never rollover money from your IRA to a spouse's IRA.  Your IRA belongs to you only, and your spouse's IRA belongs to your spouse only.