IRA ACCOUNT

Our dad (a Florida resident) passed away in Sept 2000. He had told us on numerous occasions that we were the beneficiaries of his IRA account. We recently learned from his attorney who is settling his estate that his wife is the beneficiary. We have reason to believe that he was coereced into changing the beneficiary to his wife while under heavy medication i.e. morphine for the pain as the result of his terminal cancer. If we can prove that this change was made during the last month or so of his life, do we have any legal rights to this account?

The spouse always has a beneficial interest in qualified retirement plans, including IRAs and 401(k)s. For someone else to inherit an IRA or 401(k) as a primary beneficiary, the spouse must sign a waiver witnessed by a plan representative or notary public.

It is quite likely that there was no beneficiary change done in the last month, that instead your father's wife simply did not waive her right to inherit the IRA. Without her consent, his designation of other primary beneficiaries would be invalidated and she would inherit. A not uncommon misunderstanding, I'm afraid. People don't read everything they sign as carefully as they should.