Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits

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494 Life and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits
plan any and all facts that my Executor can ascertain with reasonable effort, and that are needed
by such plan administrator to enable the plan administrator to identify and locate the
beneficiaries entitled to ownership of my benefits in the plan and the amount payable to each,
including: The identities, taxpayer identification numbers, addresses, and other information
concerning the beneficiaries; and the amount payable to each under any formula in the
beneficiary designation form. My Executor’s reasonable fees and expenses in carrying out this
instruction shall be paid by my estate. My Executor shall have no responsibility to any person
for any error or omission in carrying out the terms of this paragraph that is caused by or is the
result of my Executor’s inability to obtain the required information despite reasonable efforts;
or that is the result of fraud or misrepresentations of another person; or that arises from changes
in valuations or tax treatments as a result of a tax audit.
5.3 Will Provision: Roth IRA Conversions
If an individual dies after converting a traditional retirement plan to a Roth IRA but
before the deadline for “recharacterizing” the conversion (se , the recharacterization election
may be made by his executor. See The individual may want to give his executor
instructions regarding the Roth IRA conversion. What those instructions are will differ from one
individual to another. Here’s one approach; another would be to leave a compensating cash bequest
to the beneficiary of the Roth IRA if the executor elects to recharacterize.
ARTICLE ____: If I have (within the meaning of of the Code) “converted” any
traditional IRA or retirement plan owned by me to a “Roth IRA,” and during the time that my
Executor is serving as such my Executor would be permitted under the IRA documents and
applicable regulations to “recharacterize” the transfer as a contribution to a “traditional” IRA,
I direct my Executor to exercise its powers with respect to the Roth IRA as follows: My
Executor shall bear in mind that my purpose in converting was to provide tax-free income to
myself and/or the beneficiary(ies) of the Roth IRA. Accordingly, I direct my Executor not to
“recharacterize” any Roth conversion made by me merely because such conversion caused
depletion of my estate and/or merely because recharacterization would augment my estate by
the amount of the income tax liability on the conversion. Rather, I direct my Executor to
exercise my Executor’s discretion to recharacterize any Roth conversion made by me only if
one or more of the following conditions exist (any such recharacterization still to be within the
discretion of my Executor even if such conditions do exist): Either, (1) my Executor is
requested to do so by the beneficiary of the Roth IRA or (2) the value of the Roth IRA has
declined by more than five (5%) percent between the date of the conversion and the date of the
recharacterization or (3) the loss of the funds required to pay the income taxes on the
conversion causes a hardship (in my Executor’s sole judgment) to my estate or the beneficiaries
of my estate.
5.4 Fiduciary Letter Transferring Plan Account to Beneficiary
See
To the Plan Administrator of the [NAME OF RETIREMENT PLAN] (hereinafter “the Plan”):