Taxes on an estate IRA

[winterhaskins]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Massachusetts
My mother passed away in November 2007. Most of the money was in an Edward Jones IRA, and the estate is designated as the beneficiary. To make matters more confusing, the will specifies six beneficiaries of the estate "in equal parts": four (4) charities, her sister, and her son (me). The estate attorney is holding up distribution to attempt to get the four charities to accept distributing the assets into six equal parts. At least one charity is in disagreement, stating that being a charity, it does not have to pay taxes, that the tax burden falls solely upon the two non-charity beneficiaries.
My question is "Does the estate have to pay the taxes from the Edward Jones IRA? Why can't the estate just pay the gross value of the estate, and I can take care of my own taxes?"
I am self employed, and the economy has wreaked havoc on my business. This delay is making my life unbearable, and it is just wasting estate time and money.
Please help.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[tranquility]

I don't know on a state level in MA, but on a federal level, all are equally responsible. Your attorney should send a lawyer letter and clear things up.

 

[Dandy Don]

Your attorney seems to be making this more complicated than it needs to be unless there is some reason he is doing that that he is not disclosing.

Maybe he should have consulted a CPA or tax accountant who has experience with estate matters before he contacted the charities. The ESTATE is responsible for paying the tax burden before the distribution is ever made.

Approximately what is the total estate worth or how much is going to each beneficiary? Someone needs to ask the attorney if he has consulted with a tax professional to see if what he is doing is correct or not.

DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])