Yes, looks like he's stuck with using his own life expectancy for the RMD.  I did send him the info about the QCD option.  Hes the trustee/beneficiary of a trust that received close to 3mill in NQ annuities, so his tax burden is quite high! 

If he sent the whole 60k in RMD to a charity, he'd save close to 30k in taxes (between IRS 37% and CA 12%). So it's really only 30k out of pocket for that 60k donation.