My father purchased stock in American General Corp. through a dividend reinvestment plan back in 1977. He also purchased some shares outside of the DRIP. The stock split a few times, and he bought and sold shares over the years. I have the old statements so I know the prices when dividends were reinvested and purchases and sales were transacted.
In 1997, the American General stock was put into a revocable trust, with my parents as co-trustees. My father passed away in 1998, so the trust converted to a simple trust with my mother as trustee. She alone receives the income from this trust.
In November of 2001, American General was acquired by American International Group and the 3,304 American General shares owned by the trust were exchanged for 1,913 shares of AIG on 11/27. On that date, American General's stock price was (I think) $44.716 and AIG's was $77.23.
How do I calculate the basis if the trust sells the AIG stock? Do I use the basis from the original purchase dates or from 1998 when my father died? And what about the conversion from American General to AIG? Does that affect the basis? I know I should turn this all over to an accountant, but since I have all the records, I should be able to figure it out with a little help, I think. I'd like to try, at least. Thanks for any help you can give.