For families in transition
When money arrives with a change in your life.
Most adult children who inherit an IRA must empty it within ten years, and many now owe withdrawals every year along the way. The money and the transition arrive together. We slow the pace and hold the structure while life settles.
The situation
Fewer things are urgent than they feel.
An inheritance, a settlement, a loss. There may be an inherited IRA, a house, a brokerage account, and a stack of paperwork, all arriving in the same weeks as grief or a family reorganizing itself.
Everyone has a suggestion. A neighbor says sell the house, a relative mentions an annuity, and the bank asks for a meeting. Meanwhile the rules that govern inherited money are precise, and several choices cannot be undone once made.
We separate the real deadlines from the felt ones, and let everything else wait.
Why it’s complex
Five rules that govern the first two years
The ten-year clock
Most non-spouse heirs must empty an inherited IRA by the end of year ten. If the owner had already begun required distributions, annual withdrawals are due in the years between.
Read the guideThe step-up has limits
Stocks and property generally reset to date-of-death value. IRAs, 401(k)s, and annuities do not, so their withdrawals remain ordinary income.
Read the guideSurvivor benefits have timing
A surviving spouse can claim as early as 60 at 71.5% of the benefit, or wait for 100% at full retirement age, and can switch between benefits later.
Read the guideFiling status changes
When the joint-filing years end, the standard deduction and the Medicare surcharge line are cut in half, while household income often falls far less.
Read the guideDecisions keep their own pace
An inheritance or a divorce is a change in the decision tree, not an update. The plan deserves a structural reset, on a schedule the moment can bear.
Read the guideSources: SECURE Act, IRC §401(a)(9)(H); Treasury Decision 10001; SSA Publication 05-10084; IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32; CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B premiums.
Our approach
A calendar first, then the structure
We begin with dates, not a portfolio. Real deadlines are written down; everything else waits until the first six months have passed. Then we build the structure for the household as it is now.
Separate deadlines from urgency
Beneficiary claims, retitling, the Social Security survivor filing, and any estate-tax return go on the calendar. Selling a home, changing investments, and making gifts do not, yet.
Document and model
Date-of-death values are recorded so later sales are taxed correctly. We map the withdrawal pattern for each inherited account across its allowed years, and model Roth conversions while joint filing remains available.
Build the new structure
The income design, the investment plan, and the estate documents are decided with your attorney and CPA in the same conversation. Our Quarterly Rounds keep the plan current without rushing it.
The work
What you’ll work through with us
- A calendar of real deadlines, and a list of what can wait
- A withdrawal plan for each inherited IRA across its ten-year window
- Date-of-death basis records for stocks, funds, and property
- Roth conversion and gain-harvesting sizing for the remaining joint-filing years
- Social Security survivor timing, including the option to switch benefits later
- The portability election on the estate-tax return, with your attorney
- Divorce settlements: retirement division under a QDRO and the home-sale exclusion
- Income design for a single-income or newly independent household
Planning for families in transition is led by Theo Halbardier, CFP®, CIMA®, CAIA®, the firm’s founder. We are fee-only: no commissions, no product sales. About Theo
Questions
Common questions from families in transition
How soon after a death or a settlement do we need to decide things?
Fewer things are urgent than they feel. Deadlines that are real, such as retitling, beneficiary claims, and estate-tax filings, get a calendar. Everything else, including selling a home, changing the investments, or making gifts, waits until the first six months have passed.
I inherited an IRA from a parent. Do I have to take money out every year?
If your parent had already reached the required beginning date for distributions, yes: annual distributions are required in years one through nine and the account must be emptied by the end of year ten. If not, only the ten-year deadline applies. Either way, the spread of withdrawals across those years is a tax decision.
Do I owe tax on what I inherited?
Usually not at the moment of inheritance; federal estate tax applies only to estates above the $15 million per-person exemption in 2026. Tax arrives later. Withdrawals from inherited retirement accounts are ordinary income, and assets sold above their stepped-up value produce a gain.
What is the widow's penalty?
After the year of a spouse’s death, and a two-year qualifying period if there is a dependent child, a surviving spouse files as single. The standard deduction, the bracket thresholds, and the Medicare surcharge thresholds are roughly half the joint amounts, while income often does not fall by half. Planning in the joint-filing years can soften it.
Why file an estate-tax return if no tax is due?
A deceased spouse’s unused exemption can be preserved for the survivor only by an election on an estate-tax return (IRC §2010(c)). Skipping the filing can cost the family far more than preparing it.
Do you work with our estate attorney and CPA, or replace them?
We coordinate with them. Counsel drafts and administers; the CPA files. We hold the whole picture, translate between them, and make sure the plan, the return, and the documents agree.
Reviewed by Theo Halbardier, CFP® · Updated September 2026 · Figures current for 2026
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The first conversation is 30 minutes, at whatever pace you need. No preparation, and no decisions required.
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