Who Inherits Retirement Accounts IRAs and Life Insurance Policies

Retirement accounts, IRAs 401ks and other qualified and non-qualified plans are an important part of peoples estate plan and their wealth, particularly when you’ve accumulated that money over a lifetime. So who inherits it? Well, you have to look at the plan and the beneficiary designation. Generally speaking the named beneficiary inherits the plan. There’s a big asterisk though, however, if you’re married. Why? Because a spouse has certain rights to retirement plans, not necessarily IRAs. You need to know what does the beneficiary designation say? What type of retirement plan is it? And who has rights to it? Finally, a question becomes what happens if somebody is named on the beneficiary designation and they’re not living when the owner dies?