Thirty years ago my sister-in-law inherited from a friend a small amount of GE stock.
She is now critically ill and unable to communicate. But we'd like to tidy up her holdings and sell the GE stock.
No one has the slightest idea when the friend first came into possession of the stock.
The question is, how do we establish a basis?
I don't mean to be morbid, but the best way to deal with this is for the beneficiary to get the stepped up basis. She's critically ill, does she need cash or is the tidying for its own sake?
If she inherited the stock when her friend died, the basis is the value on the friend's date of death. Hopefully you can find records that show that date.
I believe the rule is that if you don't know and can't establish the basis, you have to take a zero basis.
stock after your sister-in-law passes away.
good point, and might apply to all of her holdings.
is this absolutely true? What if you can establish that the transfer must have occurred between two specific dates - can you take the lowest basis possible between these dates? It would be better than zero, both with respect to your tax liability and with respect to reality.
On Mon, 17 Mar 2014 20:05:24 EDT, "Stuart A. Bronstein" wrote in
Here are GE prices for 1/2/1962 - 1/18/1962
you can select other dates on that page.
There have been six stock splits since 1970 that you will have to take into account.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required