Free PDF Guide
The Inherited Retirement Accounts Guide
What most beneficiaries inherit is not an income stream — it is a tax project with a ten-year deadline. The rules, the traps, and the one decision that moves the needle.
What’s inside
The mistakes you cannot undo
The check you must never deposit, the titling that must not change, and the year-of-death RMD nobody remembers.
Which rule applies to you
The five beneficiary categories — spouse, eligible designated, minor child, adult child, entity — and the schedule each one faces.
The 10-year rule's two versions
Whether annual RMDs apply inside your decade turns on the original owner's age at death — and the penalty for guessing wrong.
When to withdraw within the window
The placement problem: landing a known income bill in your cheapest tax years instead of a year-ten balloon.
The spousal decision
Treat it as your own or stay a beneficiary — penalty-free access, deferral windows, and the timing of the eventual rollover.
Inherited 401(k)s and workplace plans
Plan-document limits, the clean trustee-to-trustee exit, and the NUA screen before any rollover.
Written by Jim Crider, CFP®, founder of Intentional Living FP — a fee-only fiduciary wealth management firm in New Braunfels, Texas.
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This guide is educational only and is not specific financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax figures reflect 2026 rules and are subject to change. Fee-only fiduciary · No commissions · Always on your side of the table.