Commentators appear to be almost uniform in proclaiming the demise of so-called stretch IRAs and other defined contribution plan benefits, including 401Ks, after the SECURE Act was signed into law by the President in late December of 2020. Before 2020, designated beneficiaries could receive benefits from IRAs and 401Ks over their entire lifetimes. The new rule, however, is that, with certain exceptions (including a surviving spouses), the IRA and 401K benefits must be paid out within 10 years of the account owner's death. For example, a child having a 30-year life expectancy, who previously could have received the IRA or 401K benefits over 30 years, must now fully withdraw the benefits within 10 years of the account owner's death. Under the new law, not only must all of the tax on the IRA and 401K benefits be paid out much earlier than previously, but the income tax rate payable on the benefits will likely be much higher than it was before, because the taxable benefits will now be bundled into the recipient's or recipients' peak earning years. Written for individuals, advisors and attorneys alike (with the last chapter intended for estate planning attorneys only), this new handbook addresses all of these issues, and presents stratgegies for minimizing the new SECURE Act income taxes on IRAs and 401Ks. The book concludes with an examination of drafting strategies attorneys and advisors can utilize for their clients in order to allow them to leave assets in trusts designed to protect their children, not only during the children's minority, but also during their adult years from potential issues such as divorce, lawsuits and estate taxes, all while continuing to minimize the children's exposure to "SECURE Act income taxes." ABOUT THE AUTHOR: James Blase is a 38-year experienced estate planning attorney with offices in St. Louis, Missouri. He is also an adjunct professor in the Villanova University School of Law graduate tax program, and in the St. Louis University School of Law. Jim spent the first 17 years of his legal career with the St. Louis law firms Thompson Coburn (then Thompson Mitchell) and Armstrong Teasdale, the latter where he also served as chair of the firm's Trusts & Estates department. He is a 1981 graduate of Notre Dame Law School, where he served as Managing Editor on the Notre Dame Law Review, and a 1982 graduate of the New York University Law School Graduate Program in Taxation, where he served as Graduate Editor on the Tax Law Review. Jim also owns a Certified Public Accountant certificate from the State of Missouri. The author of over 75 articles for various tax and estate planning professional publications, Jim is also the author of the 2017 book Optimum Estate Planning: Explanation and Sample Forms.
