Qualified retirement accounts are generally protected from creditors and bankruptcy. However, that protection usually only applies to you and your spouse.
When you leave a retirement account to a non-spouse, the protection from creditors and bankruptcy generally disappears. Some states do extend these protections to inherited retirement accounts...Oregon is not one of them. There is a simple solution to this issue.
Retirement Plan Trust
This a special trust designed to serve as a firewall between creditors and inherited retirement accounts. Using a trust like with will allow an independent trustee to stop creditors from getting to the retirement accounts.
You can learn more about planning with retirement accounts here.
Revocable Living Trust
You can do the same type of planning for retirement accounts using your revocable living trust. This requires that we setup separate trusts inside of your revocable living trust for each of the people you want to name as beneficiaries of your retirement plans. It also requires the addition of "conduit provision" for the payment of required minimum distributions.
If you have any questions about protecting retirement accounts, or any other estate planning questions, please schedule your Complimentary Estate Planning Strategy Session.
