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Beware: The Retirement Account You Inherit May Not Belong to You

At least not if you declare bankruptcy. In a landmark ruling that may change the way inheritors interact with retirement plans that are left to them, the Supreme Court has differentiated between Investment Retirement Accounts (IRAs) that workers set up and fund for themselves and those left to a beneficiary by a spouse or other loved one. So reports Forbes.

In the event that the beneficiary files for personal bankruptcy, the assets in an IRA (Roth or traditional) they've inherited may not be off-limits to creditors. By contrast, IRAs – or other types of retirement plans – set up and funded by the employee are meant to provide for an individual's own retirement.

As such, they'd be protected in a bankruptcy proceeding. It can mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The solution, to paraphrase the Beatles, is to "Roll it over, Beethoven."

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