Non-spousal Beneficiary IRA Disbursement Question

I inherited half of an IRA from my brother (not married) in May 1999. This was converted to a Non-Spouse Beneficiary IRA that summer. My understanding of an IRA is that it stays intact until your older and then you may take disbursements. Any disbursement prior to a certain age is penalized. Now I'm finding out that this is not always true. What is (was?) the law regarding disbursements and is the company holding the IRA responsible for calculating them or am I as beneficiary?

If Owner Died Prior to Required Distribution Beginning Date the IRA should have been split into two IRA's,you and your brother. You each should have an IRA by Dec. 31 of the original owner death. (I think)

From Retirement Weekly:
'As long as the account is segregated prior to December
31st of the year following death, each beneficiary
may independently calculate RMDs. Thus, with respect
to each beneficiary, the first year distribution
(year after the year of death) is determined based
upon corresponding life expectancy factor for the
beneficiary's age in the year of the first distribution by
reference to the Single Life Table. For succeeding
years, this factor is reduced by one.'

As far as when you should have started taking distributions (since you are not a spouse), I would see an estate attorney.

Good Luck.