Can I Transfer My IRA to My Spouse? Divorce, Inheritance, and Rollovers

No, you cannot transfer your IRA to your spouse while you’re both alive and married. Federal law treats every IRA as belonging to one person, so the account can’t be re-titled or handed over the way a joint bank account can. The two events that let IRA money move between spouses are divorce and the death of the account owner. Short of those, the practical option is to fund a separate IRA in your spouse’s name using your earned income, which for 2026 means up to $7,500 per spouse, or $8,600 if they’re 50 or older.

Why a Living Spouse Can’t Take Over Your IRA

The federal statute defining an IRA describes it as a trust created “for the exclusive benefit of an individual.”¹ There is no provision for joint ownership, and no mechanism for transferring the account to someone else during your lifetime unless a divorce or separation instrument requires it. If you moved money out of your IRA and into your spouse’s account on your own, the IRS would treat the outgoing amount as a distribution to you, not a transfer.

The tax hit is steep. The full amount gets added to your taxable income for the year, and if you’re under 59½, a 10% early withdrawal penalty applies on top of the regular income tax.² Once the distribution is processed, the only way to undo it is to roll the funds back into an IRA within 60 days.

The Spousal IRA: Funding an Account in Your Spouse’s Name

You can’t hand your existing IRA to your spouse, but you can put money into a separate IRA that belongs to them. This arrangement, sometimes called a Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA, works when one spouse earns income and the other earns little or none. It’s a regular IRA in every respect; the only special rule is that the working spouse’s income counts toward the contribution eligibility of the non-working spouse.³

Two conditions apply. You must file a joint federal tax return for the year the contributions are made, and your combined IRA contributions for both spouses cannot exceed the taxable compensation reported on that joint return.⁴

For 2026, each spouse can contribute up to $7,500, or $8,600 if age 50 or older (the extra $1,100 is the catch-up).⁵ A couple where both spouses are 50 or older could put away $17,200 combined on one earner’s income.

Deduction Phase-Outs for 2026

Whether you can deduct traditional IRA contributions depends on your combined income and whether either spouse is covered by a workplace retirement plan. For married couples filing jointly in 2026:

If the contributor is covered by a workplace plan, the deduction phases out between $129,000 and $149,000 of modified adjusted gross income.
If the contributor is not covered but their spouse is, the deduction phases out between $242,000 and $252,000.
Roth IRA eligibility phases out between $242,000 and $252,000.

Above these ranges, Roth conversions and nondeductible traditional contributions are still available, though each carries its own planning considerations.⁵

Transfers Between Spouses in a Divorce

Divorce is the one situation where IRA money can move tax-free from one living spouse to another. Section 408(d)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code says a transfer of an interest in an IRA to a spouse or former spouse under a divorce or separation instrument is not a taxable event. After the transfer, the IRA belongs to the receiving spouse for all purposes.¹

The IRS recognizes two methods. The first is changing the name on the existing IRA from one spouse to the other, which works when the entire account is being transferred. The second is a trustee-to-trustee transfer, where the custodian moves the assets directly into a new or existing IRA in the receiving spouse’s name.⁴ Either method keeps the transfer tax-free.

What doesn’t work: taking money out of your IRA and paying it to your former spouse directly. Even if a court orders it, the IRS treats that withdrawal as a distribution to you. Income tax applies, and if you’re under 59½, so does the 10% penalty. The only divorce-related exception to that penalty is a transfer made through one of the two methods above.⁴ A check written to your ex is not a trustee-to-trustee transfer, even if the money eventually lands in their IRA.

The transfer must be required under a divorce decree, legal separation agreement, or similar written instrument. Informal or verbal arrangements don’t qualify, and the custodian holding the IRA will want a certified copy of the court document before processing anything.

Options When You Inherit Your Spouse’s IRA

A surviving spouse named as beneficiary of an IRA has more flexibility than any other heir. The right choice depends on your age and whether you need access to the money.

Rolling It Into Your Own IRA

The most common route is to roll the inherited IRA into your own IRA, or redesignate it in your name. Afterward, the account is treated as if it had always been yours. You can name your own beneficiaries, make additional contributions if you’re eligible, and defer required minimum distributions until age 73.⁶

The catch matters if you’re younger than 59½. Once the account is your own, any withdrawal before 59½ triggers the standard 10% early withdrawal penalty.² Rolling over is usually the right call if you don’t need the money for years. If you might need it soon, the alternative below preserves access.

Keeping It Titled as an Inherited IRA

Instead of rolling over, you can leave the account titled as an inherited IRA and take distributions based on your own life expectancy or under the 10-year rule, depending on when the original owner died.⁷ Distributions from an inherited IRA are not subject to the 10% early withdrawal penalty regardless of your age. For a surviving spouse under 59½ who may need income, that matters.

You can also delay distributions until the year your deceased spouse would have reached age 73, giving the account more time to grow tax-deferred. And you’re not locked in. A surviving spouse can keep the account as inherited initially and roll it into their own IRA later, once they reach 59½ and the penalty is no longer a risk.⁷

The Sole Beneficiary Requirement

These expanded options are only available when the surviving spouse is the sole beneficiary. If the account was split among multiple beneficiaries, the spouse’s options narrow. Sole beneficiary status is determined as of September 30 of the year following the account holder’s death.⁷ If other beneficiaries disclaim their share or take their full distribution before that date, the surviving spouse can become sole beneficiary by the deadline. This is worth checking early, because many people name children as contingent or partial beneficiaries without realizing it can cost their spouse flexibility later.

Rollover Rules That Catch People Off Guard

If you receive IRA funds as a check or deposit rather than through a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer, you have exactly 60 days from the date you receive the distribution to deposit it into another IRA. Miss that window and the entire amount becomes a taxable distribution, plus the 10% penalty if you’re under 59½.⁸

The IRS also limits you to one indirect rollover (where the funds pass through your hands) between IRAs in any 12-month period. The limit applies across all your IRAs combined, including SEP and SIMPLE IRAs. A second indirect rollover inside that window is treated as a taxable distribution.⁸

The clean way around both problems is a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer, where the money moves between custodians without touching your bank account. Those transfers are not subject to the 60-day deadline or the one-per-year cap.⁸

What the Custodian Will Need From You

Whichever type of spousal transfer applies to you, the paperwork tends to be similar. Gathering it upfront can shave weeks off the timeline.

Account numbers and Social Security numbers for both the originating and receiving accounts, and for both individuals involved.
For a divorce transfer, a certified copy of the divorce decree or legal separation agreement that specifically awards the IRA assets to the receiving spouse.
For an inherited IRA claim, a certified death certificate for the deceased account holder, plus documentation showing the surviving spouse is the named beneficiary. The custodian usually has the beneficiary designation on file.
The custodian’s own Transfer of Assets form (for divorce transfers) or Beneficiary Claim form (for inherited IRAs). These forms include a field for the type of transfer, which controls how it gets reported.

Some custodians require a Medallion Signature Guarantee when assets move between firms or between account types. Call both custodians before submitting anything to find out whether you need one, especially if the names on the accounts don’t match exactly.

Once the forms are complete and the legal documents are attached, most custodians finish the transfer within two to four weeks of receiving everything.⁸ Keep the confirmation letter alongside your certified legal documents in case a reporting discrepancy shows up on your tax return later.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 408 – Individual Retirement Accounts
2
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 557, Additional Tax on Early Distributions From Traditional and Roth IRAs
3
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – IRA Contribution Limits
4
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plans FAQs Regarding IRAs
5
Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
6
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs
7
Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Beneficiary
8
Internal Revenue Service. Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions