Yes, an IRA owner can name more than one beneficiary, and trusts may be beneficiaries. To effect the change, the owner should fill out a beneficiary change form, a sample of which is included in our resources below.
For resources related to our guidance, please see:
- IRS Publication 590-B — Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) (2016) (“A single IRA can be split into separate accounts or shares for each beneficiary. These separate accounts or shares can be established at any time, either before or after the owner's required beginning date.”)
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IRS Publication 590-B — Distributions from Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) (2016) (“Trust as beneficiary. A trust cannot be a designated beneficiary even if it is a named beneficiary. However, the beneficiaries of a trust will be treated as having been designated beneficiaries for purposes of determining required minimum distributions after the owner’s death (or after the death of the owner’s surviving spouse described in Death of surviving spouse prior to date distributions begin, earlier) if all of the following are true: . . .”)