Thank you. Does it matter that 1) this was originally part of his property (40 acres), and he subdivided it (22 acres for him at top of hill, 18 acres in separate parcel gifted to me) and retained access rights via an easement for the time I owned it, and 2) I can show that all income from the property was for his benefit. He signed the lease for the tenant in his name and collected all rents until he died. I can also (I think) find records that all payments on the LOC I took out on the property were paid to him - I have paid down the LOC (and now paid it off), but all benefits accrued to him during his lifetime. This was our informal agreement when he gave me the property - it was protection for him if he was sued or was in debt, which is what what happened and I can show ~$400k of payments to him done based on the value of the property. It looks like I will have to pay capital gains and CA tax on those...
I am guessing the answer is no, but hoping. Assuming I have to go off of his basis, I think the sequence is something like the following:
1) Find what he paid for the land when he bought in in 1972 or so.
2) Divide that in ~1/2 since the parcel was split between his and mine
3) Add an estimate for the roads , shared well, and building cost for the structure on my property, which I assume has to be at 1970's prices. Is there a way to get a basis for that, or should I use current estimates for construction costs and deflate by the inflation between time of construction and now?
Thanks for your help. Wish the answer were different.
