Does anyone have any experience as to the rules regarding who the new owner of a 529 plan would be if the owner died and there was no contingent owner listed on the application, or if the contingent owner had predeceased?
Someone told me the owner's Will, or the intestate laws, decide the new owner in this situation. Can this be right? It would mean the assets are not included in the gross estate for tax purposes, yet included in the probate estate, subject to spousal right of election. And then, I suppose, maybe, the 529 assets would be subject to executor's commissions, etc etc.
Can the 529 plan be used as some sort of family dynasty trust? Owner and beneficiary changed from generation to generation by death, without any distributions being made for education at all?
What do you think?