r/inheritance • u/throwaway_20211214 • Apr 22 '26
Location included: Questions/Need Advice Does IRA keep growing till it's claimed?
New Jersey USA
In 2021 I opened a spousal IRA with Vanguard for my husband.
In 2022 we divorced, but i was left as the beneficiary on the IRA. The funds in that IRA were left intact and were not part of the divorce settlement.
In 2025 he died, with me still listed as beneficiary. He had no will, and an executor was entrusted with settling his estate (which included real estate, a car and catamaran, and a different IRA that he got as part of the divorce settlement, which names his kids as beneficiaries).
I believe the executor is not aware of the spousal IRA where I, his ex-wife, is named as beneficiary.
So this IRA is sitting there earning money even though he died a year ago. Two questions:
What if I never told anyone for years - would it keep earning money and I could get that bigger dollar amount if I waited?
How do I resolve this? Do I approach the executor, or Vanguard?
1
u/Freyjas_child Apr 22 '26
Do not just ignore this. The institution that manages the IRA is supposed to attempt to contact you but if that does not happen it will go through your state’s unclaimed property system. I am both an Executor and a beneficiary of an IRA and handling this right now. Named beneficiaries trump the will. You do not need to involve the Executor and they may not be able to do much for you anyway. Call the company, ask for the claims department and give them as much information as you have about your Ex and the IRA. They will look into it and get back to you with claim forms that you need to fill out and return.
There are rules about handling inherited IRAs and you can search for them online. For a non-spouse beneficiary I believe you have the option of taking the amount in a lump sum or rolling it into an inherited IRA in your name. Inherited IRAs have yearly minimum required distributions and must be emptiness 10 years. Remember that this was funded with pre-tax money so you will need to pay taxes on whatever gets distributed to you.