sorry for your loss. you may want to confer with a real estate attorney in this matter. If your mother owned 100% the value (tax basis) for determining gain or loss would be the gross sales price since it was sold soon after her death. There would likely be a loss because of closing costs and other expenses of sale. so the question is whether you can take the loss on your tax return. however, if the legal ownership was 50/50 then 1/2 the sales price would represent the tax basis of her share that you inherited. the tax basis of your share would be the lower of 1/2 her tax basis or 1/2 the fair market value the date she gifted you ownership. I would assume that no gift tax return was filed which would have helped in determining the tax basis of your portion.
