Trust As Beneficiary
A trust can't be a designated beneficiary even if it is a named beneficiary. However, the beneficiaries of a trust will be treated as having been designated beneficiaries for purposes of determining required minimum distributions after the owner’s death (or after the death of the owner’s surviving spouse) if all of the following are true.
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The trust is a valid trust under state law or would be but for the fact that there is no corpus.
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The trust is irrevocable or became, by its terms, irrevocable upon the owner's death.
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The beneficiaries of the trust who are beneficiaries with respect to the trust's interest in the owner's benefit are identifiable from the trust instrument.
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The trustee of the trust provides the IRA custodian or trustee with the documentation required by that custodian or trustee. The trustee of the trust should contact the IRA custodian or trustee for details on the documentation required for a specific plan.
The deadline for the trustee to provide the beneficiary documentation to the IRA custodian or trustee is October 31 of the year following the year of the owner's death.
Trust Beneficiary Is Another Trust
If the beneficiary of the trust (which is the beneficiary of the IRA) is another trust and both trusts meet the above requirements, the beneficiaries of the other trust will be treated as having been designated as beneficiaries for purposes of determining the distribution period. Note: The separate account rules can't be used by beneficiaries of a trust.