The bank where my mom had her IRA and which set up the inherited IRA for me upon her death is closing its branch, and I want to transfer the IRA to another financial institution. One reason that I continued to use that bank is because they had the "audit trail" with her death certificate and the transfer to my IRA from hers. That bank set up my required minimum distribution [due to her death...otherwise I am not at the age to withdraw without tax penalty], and all has been going well. I do not work with deposit products at the bank where I am employed, and it has been a very long time since I have done so. I just wanted to check...are there any "caveats" with regard to transferring this IRA to another bank, or is it just like transferring any other IRA? I would want it to be a "bank to bank" transfer, with the check not made to me peronally. However, if the bank that has it now were to want to charge me a fee for transferring to another bank, what if I did a complete distribution instead and transferred it to my savings account there? Could I then roll it over to another bank without incurring any type of tax penalty? In that scenario, it concerns me that the complete distribution would be coded "distribution due to death" whereas the rollover deposit would likely be coded just as "rollover." Regardless of whether it is handled as a bank to bank transfer or a rollover, what would I need to inform the bank to which I transfer the IRA so that my required minimum distribution [due to death] would continue? Thank you for your time and input.
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"When you believe He's all you need,that will be your defining moment." [from "Defining Moment" Newsong, Sheltering Tree CD]