Stepped up basis

Apr 17, 2006 4 Replies

My mother contracted MS in 1968. I was two years old. My father took very good care of my mother her until she her death in 1999. When my mother died, my father took stepped up basis and liquidated most stocks and bonds. Given the market dive, this was a brilliant move. In the early 70's he began a relationship with another woman with whom he had my brother. We have all been on excellent terms and still are. He married my step-mother shortly after my mother died and reinvested everything. My father passed away in January. His will left my step-mother everthing. The problem is that he held onto some stock given to him by my mother's father as a wedding present. He never put my step-mother's name on the stock. Her accountant says she gets my father's basis but no step-up because her name is not on the stock. I say she gets stepped up basis.



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ALL of the assets in your father's estate get adjusted to FMV on date of death. The accountant is wrong.

Tell her to get a new accountant. FWIW, I agree with you: As the inheritor, she gets a stepped-up basis -- and it has nothing to do with whose name was on the stock! Bill

The accountant is wrong. The value (of everything he owns) is stepped-up in basis upon his death. As an aside, and not OT, as your father he should have put YOUR name on the stock because it was from your mother's father, as a gift to him, and should have been passed on by him to you, not your step-mother ==== sort of like "family" heirlooms going to real descendants instead of inlaw's relatives. Good reason for a trust upon remarrying. Also OT. I presume you realize your stepbrother will inherit all the assets your father accumulated prior to his marriage to your step-mother ( per his "brilliant move" in

1999), or do you think your stepmother will will them all to you instead of her son ( or current husband)? ed

"ed"

After reading other responses, I see how out-to-lunch her accountant is.

There's a lot more to this. My father paid for my education and set aside other money for me. He did the same for my brother. So what she does with her money is her business.

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