Do I have to withdraw the inherited IRA within 30 days?

No. The first month is primarily an information and registration period. Federal inherited-IRA deadlines generally operate by calendar year, including any year-of-death RMD, annual beneficiary RMDs, and a terminal 10-year deadline. A custodian may have claim paperwork deadlines, but there is no general federal rule requiring you to cash out an IRA within 30 days of learning about it.

Should I transfer the IRA to my own brokerage immediately?

A non-spouse beneficiary should not move inherited IRA money into a personal IRA. A trustee-to-trustee transfer can move the inherited IRA between custodians if the receiving account preserves the deceased owner for your benefit. A distribution paid to you generally cannot be repaired with a 60-day rollover. Spouses have separate ownership options.

What if I do not know whether the owner took the final RMD?

Ask the custodian for year-to-date distributions and review the owner’s other IRAs because an owner may have satisfied an IRA RMD from another aggregable IRA. Publication 590-B says the year-of-death RMD is calculated as if the owner lived all year. Any remaining shortfall should be identified promptly and handled under current IRS rules.

Why does the original owner’s required beginning date matter?

For many post-2019 beneficiaries under the 10-year rule, the owner’s RBD determines whether annual RMDs are required during the ten-year window. When the owner died on or after the RBD, annual distributions can continue alongside the terminal deadline. If the owner died before the RBD, a non-EDB under the pure 10-year rule may have no annual RMD before year 10.

What is the biggest mistake in the first month?

For a non-spouse beneficiary, an unnecessary distribution is difficult to reverse. Cashing out before confirming account type, basis, RMD status, title, and beneficiary classification can accelerate years of taxable income into one return. Preserve inherited status first, then choose distributions after you know which amounts are mandatory and which are discretionary.

What to Do in the First 30 Days After You Learn You Inherited an IRA

In the first 30 days after learning you inherited an IRA, the safest goal is not to withdraw money quickly. It is to establish the facts that determine every later deadline: obtain the death certificate, confirm the beneficiary designation, identify the account type, learn whether the original owner had reached the required beginning date, and make sure the custodian will register the beneficiary account correctly.

You can usually take a lump sum at any time, but once a taxable distribution is paid to a non-spouse beneficiary it generally cannot be rolled back into an inherited IRA. Preserving tax-deferred status while you verify the rules keeps more options open.

Days 1–5: confirm you are actually the beneficiary

Ask the IRA custodian or plan administrator for its death-claim process and beneficiary information. A will, family statement, or old estate-planning worksheet is not proof that you are the current beneficiary. The institution pays under the valid designation and account agreement, subject to applicable law.

If there are multiple beneficiaries, a trust, estate, charity, or disclaimer question, do not direct distributions until you understand the September 30 beneficiary-determination rule and the December 31 separate-account deadline. See the September 30 beneficiary determination date if more than one recipient is involved.

Collect the death certificate and core account documents

Most institutions require a certified death certificate. Also request the year-end statement before death, date-of-death value if available, beneficiary form, IRA agreement, and any prior-year RMD records. If the account is an employer plan, get the summary plan description and beneficiary options because plan documents can restrict forms or timing that an IRA custodian would permit.

Create one folder for the original owner’s date of birth and death, account type, owner RMD status, beneficiary relationship, custodian contact, and all deadlines. These facts will be reused for years.

Identify the account before discussing a transfer

Determine whether you inherited a traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SEP/SIMPLE IRA, 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), or another plan. “Retirement account” is not specific enough. A Roth inherited IRA can have beneficiary RMDs even though Roth IRA owners have no lifetime RMDs; employer plans can have plan-specific distribution forms.

If a non-spouse beneficiary wants to move an employer-plan death benefit to an inherited IRA, the transfer generally must be direct trustee-to-trustee. Do not request a check payable to yourself and assume the 60-day rollover rule will fix it.

Determine whether the original owner died before or after the RBD

The original owner’s required beginning date is a critical fork. If a designated beneficiary subject to the 10-year rule inherited from an owner who died on or after the RBD, annual RMDs can be required during years 1–9 in addition to the year-10 emptying deadline. If the owner died before the RBD, the 10-year rule can permit no annual distribution before year 10 for a non-EDB designated beneficiary.

Use owner died before the required beginning date and the existing annual-RMD guides to map the branch before choosing a withdrawal schedule.

Check the year-of-death RMD

If the original owner was required to take an RMD for the year of death and had not completed it, the remaining year-of-death RMD still needs to be distributed. Publication 590-B says the owner’s RMD for the year of death is figured as if the owner lived for the full year. The beneficiary or beneficiaries may need to complete the shortfall.

Do not roll a required minimum distribution into another account. RMD amounts are not eligible rollover distributions. A custodian can show year-to-date withdrawals, but the beneficiary should verify whether any other IRA was used by the owner to satisfy an aggregated owner RMD.

Classify yourself: spouse, EDB, designated beneficiary, or entity

Your relationship and status determine which post-death rules are available. A surviving spouse has options other beneficiaries do not. Other eligible designated beneficiaries include the original owner’s minor child, a disabled or chronically ill individual meeting statutory definitions, and an individual not more than 10 years younger than the owner. A typical adult child is a designated beneficiary but not an EDB.

Use who is an eligible designated beneficiary before assuming a family relationship creates special treatment.

Do not let the title become casual paperwork

For a non-spouse inherited IRA, the registration should preserve the decedent’s identity and identify you as beneficiary. IRS reporting instructions give a model such as “Brian Willow as beneficiary of Joan Maple.” A direct trustee-to-trustee move must go to another inherited IRA maintained in the deceased owner’s name for your benefit.

Read how an inherited IRA should be titled before signing transfer forms. A typo can often be corrected; a check paid to you and deposited into your own IRA is a much more serious tax problem.

Example: why waiting for facts preserves options

Assume Maya learns on June 10, 2026 that she inherited a $340,000 traditional IRA from her father, who died at age 78 in May. The custodian offers a “cash out” button. Before using it, Maya confirms her father had taken only part of his 2026 RMD, that she is a non-EDB adult child, and that the final regulations require annual beneficiary RMDs because he died after the RBD.

By taking a week to verify those facts, Maya can complete the remaining year-of-death RMD, establish the inherited account correctly, and plan the remaining withdrawals through 2036. An immediate $340,000 payout would have made the entire pretax amount current-year income and eliminated the tax-deferred account.

Thirty-day checklist

Obtain certified death certificates and the beneficiary designation actually on file.
Identify every retirement account and whether it is traditional, Roth, or an employer plan.
Record the original owner’s date of birth, date of death, and RBD status.
Check whether a year-of-death RMD remains unpaid.
Classify each beneficiary as spouse, EDB, designated beneficiary, or non-individual.
Open or transfer only through a properly titled inherited account when required.
Calendar September 30, December 31, annual RMD, and terminal 10-year deadlines that apply.
Do not cash out solely because a custodian’s portal makes that the easiest option.

The first month is mainly about preserving facts and avoiding irreversible transactions

Most inherited-IRA mistakes in the first month come from moving money before the beneficiary has classified the account. A non-spouse beneficiary generally cannot use the ordinary 60-day rollover rules to repair a check paid personally. A surviving spouse has broader options, but even a spouse should identify any year-of-death RMD before rolling eligible assets. “Do nothing until you know what this is” is therefore often safer than accepting the first transfer option presented by a call-center representative.

Build a one-page fact sheet. Record the original owner’s date of birth and date of death, account type, whether the owner had reached the required beginning date, the named beneficiary, your relationship to the owner, whether a trust or estate is involved, and whether any distribution occurred in the year of death. If there are multiple beneficiaries, note the September 30 determination and separate-account issues that may matter later.

Then request written procedures from the custodian. Ask how it titles inherited accounts, what death certificate format it accepts, whether it requires a medallion signature guarantee, how it reports beneficiary distributions, and whether it can process a trustee-to-trustee transfer if you later move the account. Do not rely only on a phone summary for a six-figure retirement account.

Finally, calendar the deadlines you know and mark the ones still unresolved. The first 30 days are not normally the end of the 10-year window, but they are the period when records are easiest to gather and operational errors easiest to prevent. A CPA or estate attorney can then work from a clean factual record instead of reconstructing one after a taxable distribution has occurred.

What not to sign in the first month

Be cautious with forms labeled “distribution,” “rollover to my IRA,” “cash transfer,” or “check payable to beneficiary” until your status is known. A non-spouse beneficiary generally needs inherited registration and direct trustee-to-trustee movement if the account changes custodians. A surviving spouse has broader choices but should make them intentionally.

Also do not disclaim the inheritance casually. A qualified disclaimer has strict federal requirements and estate-plan consequences, and the beneficiary generally cannot accept benefits first and later decide to disclaim. If disclaimer planning is being considered, involve counsel before taking control of the account.

Practical note: If the account is an employer plan rather than an IRA, stop using IRA-only assumptions. The plan document can control available beneficiary payout options and transfer procedures. Obtain the summary plan description or written beneficiary packet before directing a move to an inherited IRA.

This is general information, not personalized tax or legal advice — a CPA or estate attorney can confirm how this applies to your specific inherited account.