Craig Wear, a CFP, explains how designated beneficiaries of retirement accounts can defer required distributions for nine years after the account holder dies before their required beginning date, rather than taking distributions immediately via will or default rules.
If the account holder dies before their required beginning date and you are a designated beneficiary, then your distributions are optional for nine years. So you have to be a designated beneficiary. It can't pass you through the will. It can't pass because you're next in line. You have to be that designated beneficiary. And if you are, you don't have to do anything for nine years.
