My aunt from Iowa left me her entire estate over 20 years ago. She had already begun drawing her RMD payments on her IRA. The payout schedule was adjusted based on my age, so the payments were obviously much less per year than her payments were before her death.. But because of how the IRA has been invested, there is actually more money in the account now then there was 10 years ago. I opted for annual payouts and I have taxes taken out before I get the payment every October. In my case, she had been married, so she actually inherited the IRA from her deceased husband. They had no children, and so the IRA was transferred to me. I was told back in 1999 that because she was already receiving the RMD and was not the original owner, that I did not have a choice in taking the RMD. I don't know if tax laws have changed, but I have a management company handle the account which includes other investments.