Inherited IRA Rules | 10-Year Clock and RMDs

Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: almost everyone who inherits a retirement account now has ten years to empty it, and the expensive detail is that some beneficiaries must ALSO take an annual distribution in each of those ten years. Which case you are in depends on who you are and on whether the original owner had already started their own required distributions. A surviving spouse has options nobody else has and can make them worse by choosing quickly. A short list of eligible designated beneficiaries – minor children of the owner, the disabled and chronically ill, and beneficiaries close in age to the owner – keep a lifetime stretch. Everyone else is on the clock. Work out your category first; every other decision follows from it.

Inherited IRA Rules: the 10-Year Clock, the RMD Trap, and Who Is Exempt

Which beneficiary are you?

The ten-year rule and RMDs inside it

Trusts, charities and unusual beneficiaries

Account types and state tax

Other inherited-account questions

Related guides