How to designate beneficiaries at Inspira Financial

An IRA cannot be retitled to a trust during the account owner's lifetime. A trust connects to an Inspira IRA by being named as beneficiary on Form IRA-012.¹

An HSA cannot be retitled to a trust. A trust can be named as beneficiary on the HSA's beneficiary designation, and the account stays in the accountholder's name.²

A taxable custody account takes a transfer-on-death registration on Form OPR-005, not Form IRA-012.³

Revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts and sub-trusts can be named in Section C of Form IRA-012. A sub-trust is listed with the sub-trust name first and the parent trust and date after.¹

A testamentary trust formed under a will can be named, with the created field reading "in my last will and testament".¹

A charity is entered in the entity or charity section of Form IRA-012 with a Tax ID number.¹

An entity can be named in Section D of Form IRA-012, with its legal name, Tax ID, daytime phone, address, percentage, and whether it is primary or contingent.¹

The beneficiary block on Form OPR-005 collects a person's name, Social Security number, date of birth, relationship and address, with no place to enter a trust and its Tax ID.³

Primary and contingent beneficiaries are named with percentages that total 100%. If they do not, Form IRA-012 states the beneficiaries will be assigned equal percentages.¹

Contingent beneficiaries take only if all primary beneficiaries fail to survive the accountholder.¹

The accountholder signs and dates Section F of Form IRA-012.¹

Spousal consent in Section E applies when the accountholder is married, has named a primary beneficiary other than the spouse, and the IRA includes property in which the spouse has a community property interest.¹

For IRAs. Completed by the accountholder. Available to download.¹

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The Custodial Agreement treats a designation as valid "only when submitted fully completed, duly executed, and on a form provided or approved by the Custodian," and effective on receipt.⁴

A later designation revokes the earlier one in full unless the new form "clearly provides that the Account Owner is adding to or changing a portion of the then current beneficiary designation form".⁴

Form IRA-012 recites that the accountholder reserves the right to change the designation and revokes all prior beneficiary designations under the IRA.¹

Form IRA-012 distributes the share of a beneficiary who does not survive to the remaining beneficiaries, primary or contingent as the case may be, in the proportions shown. It does not pass to that beneficiary's descendants.¹

The Custodial Agreement reserves the right to reject, or not to accept, beneficiary designations other than to named individuals or specific entities. A class designation such as "my children" or a per-stirpes instruction may not be accepted.⁴

Inspira has no duty to look for a beneficiary it was not told about.²