The RMD Waivers Are Over: Fixing IRA Beneficiary Trusts and Managing the 10-Year Payout

Salvatore J. LaMendola, Shareholder | Giarmarco, Mullins & Horton, P.C.

Salvatore J. LaMendola is a shareholder in the Trusts and Estates Practice Group at Giarmarco, Mullins & Horton, P.C., where he has practiced since 1996. His practice centers on estate planning, retirement-benefit planning, the modification of irrevocable trusts, and charitable planning, the drafting and administration questions at the heart of this program.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. LaMendola earned his B.S., summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame and his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School. He was admitted to the Michigan bar in 1994.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. LaMendola was selected to the Super Lawyers Rising Stars list in 2008, with additional recognition from 2014 through 2016. He holds several editorial and advisory leadership positions: he is the editor of the firm’s monthly E-Update, summarizing current estate planning developments, and assistant editor of the firm’s quarterly newsletter covering estate planning, business succession, and charitable planning. He also serves as a Probate & Estate Planning Advisory Board member for the Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) and sits on Strafford’s Estate Planning Advisory Board and the InterActive Legal Practice Advisory Board.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. LaMendola is a member of the State Bar of Michigan and its Probate & Estate Planning Section. A regular continuing legal education presenter for the national webinar providers Strafford and Rossdale, he has also presented to the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA), the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA), and the Society of Financial Service Professionals (SFSP), and conducts private continuing education seminars for life insurance and financial planning professionals. His articles have appeared in professional journals including Advisor Today, and his ICLE contributions include the 65th Annual Probate & Estate Planning Institute and the 35th Annual Drafting Estate Planning Documents seminar.

• Experience

Over nearly three decades at the firm, Mr. LaMendola has designed customized estate plans employing wills, revocable living trusts, durable powers of attorney for financial matters, and health care powers of attorney. He counsels clients on IRA and retirement-benefit planning, restructures irrevocable trusts through techniques including decanting and powers of appointment, and establishes charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, and private foundations

SESSION 1 – Drafting and Fixing See-Through Trusts Under the SECURE Final Regulations | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

This session provides a comprehensive analysis of the IRS July 2024 final regulations governing see-through trusts for inherited IRAs, covering conduit versus accumulation trust design, the new separate accounting rules, and post-death remediation strategies. Attorneys will learn how to diagnose pre-2020 trust documents that no longer function as intended, apply the expanded accumulation trust standards, and use decanting, nonjudicial settlement agreements, and toggle provisions to fix or future-proof existing plans. Attendees will leave with concrete drafting checklists and a clear understanding of which trust structures now trigger forced distribution, and which preserve meaningful deferral under the 10-year rule.

BREAK | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

SESSION 2 – Administering the Inherited IRA in Trust: RMD Compliance and Distribution Strategy | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

This session covers the administration of inherited IRAs held in trust under the SECURE Act final regulations (T.D. 10001), with enforcement beginning in 2025. Attorneys will learn how to distinguish the two-track annual-RMD-versus-year-10-only system, calculate and correct missed distributions, and model distribution strategies across conduit and accumulation trust structures. Attendees gain practical competency in trustee compliance duties, penalty correction procedures, and tax-efficient payout planning over the full 10-year period.