IRA beneficiary

[Diana Parson]

My father died leaving my mother as beneficiary of his IRA account (my brother was contingent). My mother was declared incapacitated. The Conservator rolled my father's IRA into my mother's account. My brother is the beneficiary. There are a total of six adult children living. Could the Conservator have rolled my mother's IRA into an account that would have benefited all surviving heirs? Or, divided the IRA into subaccounts having the name of each living heir?

 

[msattorney]

Is there a reason that only one son was listed as a contingent beneficiary for your father's IRA? Perhaps if he is in need of this and there was an agreement between your parents to take care of him, then the conservator is just following their wishes. If this is not the case, you might bring this information to a probate attorney who could advise if you have a legal argument to get this IRA money put into a different account that might ultimately benefit all of you. If the amount of money at issue is not large, you might find that to challenge this distribution or the conservator will cost more than the funds at issue.