Formation, operational and administrative aspects of an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) The formation, operational and administrative aspects of an Individual Retirement Account (“IRA”) published in Section 408 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Under the general rule, any distribution from an IRA to the IRA owner will be subject to income tax in the year received. However, […]

In Part I of this article the history of the recent US Supreme Court case, Clark v. Rameker, was described. Heidi Heffron-Clark had inherited an IRA from her mother. After Heidi and her husband filed for bankruptcy, the issue as to whether an inherited IRA can be protected in bankruptcy arose. After various appeals on this […]

With the passage of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, it became clear that Traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs had creditor protection if the IRA owner filed for bankruptcy. However, it has not been clear to what extent, if any, an “inherited IRA” would be protected in bankruptcy. An IRA is […]