Transfer of small IRA and stock

[Adie24]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma

Dad died about 5 years ago. Most assets were held jointly with Mom and were easily transferred to her. Unfortunately, he had an IRA and some stock that he purchased in his name alone and he did not declare a beneficiary. Is it possible for us to contact the companies involved and ask them to transfer the accounts to Mom without having to go through probate? The accounts are small (about $5,000) and no one in the family questions that my Mom should have them. My Dad didn't have a will as he believed everything was held jointly and didn't see the need for one.

We would love to hear any recommendations or advice on how to best handle the situation.

Thank you.

 

[tranquility]

See a tax professional or an attorney. You may have a problem regarding the required minimum distributions by not dealing with this already. If not handled corrrectly at this point, it may all be gone in taxes and penalties to the IRS for failure to distribute by now. But, the specific facts may guide a professional to avoid the problem.

 

[Adie24]

Thank you tranquility for the response.

My Mom is the queen of procrastination. She didn't even mention these accounts until this week as we discussed another family member's probate proceedings.

I didn't realize there are penalties for delayed distribution. My father-in-law's probate took YEARS because they didn't hire a competent attorney.

Thanks again.

 

[tranquility]

As I said, see a tax professional. There may not be any penalties or additional tax depending on the relative ages and whatnot. It's just that there may be a large problem and how title is taken now may affect things greatly.