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Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: every state gives creditors a statutory window to claim against an estate — started either by published notice or by the death itself — and an executor who distributes assets before the window closes can become personally liable for valid claims that arrive later. […]

Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: if someone dies before taking that year’s required minimum distribution, the beneficiary must take it — and the deadline is no longer December 31 of the year of death. The final regulations issued July 19, 2024 moved it to the later of the beneficiary’s

Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: IRC §2032 lets an estate value everything as of 6 months after death instead of the date of death — but only if the election reduces BOTH the gross estate value AND the estate tax owed. It exists for one scenario: markets fell after

Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: the federal estate tax return (Form 706) is due 9 months after the date of death. Form 4768 buys an automatic 6-month filing extension — but it extends the paperwork, not the payment: tax owed is still due at month nine, and the extension

Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: a qualified disclaimer must be complete within 9 months of the death (IRC §2518) — in writing, delivered to the executor or account custodian, before accepting any benefit from the asset. There are no extensions, and the second condition kills more disclaimers than the

Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: after a death, a set of clocks starts running that nobody tells the family about — and several are use-it-or-lose-it. The unforgiving ones: 9 months to disclaim an inheritance (no extensions), 9 months to file the estate tax return, 6 months for the alternate-valuation

Guides › Roth Conversions Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: the beneficiary must have earned income at least equal to the rollover amount, in the rollover year — wages, self-employment, the things that would support an IRA contribution. Investment income, allowances and gifts do not count. A $7,500 rollover needs $7,500 of the kid’s own

Guides › Roth Conversions Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: a beneficiary change is free, unlimited and instant; the Roth rollover is capped, slow and one-way. Change the beneficiary when anyone in the family might use the money for education; roll to the Roth when the education mission is truly over. The wrong-order mistake is

Guides › Roth Conversions Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: the Roth rollover is one of five doors for leftover 529 money, and it is often not the best one. The full menu: (1) change the beneficiary — free, instant, keeps compounding for a sibling, grandchild or even yourself; (2) the Roth rollover — $35k

Guides › Roth Conversions Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: federal law made 529-to-Roth rollovers tax-free; your state may not have. The failures come in two distinct flavors. Nonconformity states tax the rollover as if it were a nonqualified withdrawal: California — verified against the FTB’s own Form 3805P instructions — taxes the earnings portion