The IRA must have a beneficiary named, otherwise it goes into the estate and loses  the benefit of stretching out an inherited IRA over 10 yrs for the beneficiary, and instead pays at the exorbitant estate rates. I am not an expert on estate planning, but I've seen brokers who sold the IRA to his client neglecting to get a beneficiary named. It's a huge mistake and I don't know of a solution after the fact.