Thank you so much for your support, it has been very helpful. I just need to verify one more thing, I forgot to mention that my mother lives in California so would this fall under Pub.555 - Community Property? Here is an excerpt:
"Death of spouse. If you own community property and your spouse dies, the total fair market value (FMV) of the community property, including the part that belongs to you, generally becomes the basis of the entire property. For this rule to apply, at least half the value of the community property interest must be includible in your spouse's gross estate, whether or not the estate must file a return (this rule does not apply to registered domestic partners).
Example.
Bob and Ann owned community property that had a basis of $80,000. When Bob died, his and Ann's community property had an FMV of $100,000. One-half of the FMV of their community interest was includible in Bob's estate. The basis of Ann's half of the property is $50,000 after Bob died (half of the $100,000 FMV). The basis of the other half to Bob's heirs is also $50,000."
Is the math still the same as RIGHT OF SURVIVORSHIP, half of the original basis added with half of the fair market value of the property at the time of the spouses death which in my mother's case is, original basis is $40,000 ($80,000 / 2) + $120,000 (FMV at time of death $240,000 / 2) = $160,000? In the "Adjusted Cost Basis EasyGuide -- Description of Increase box, do I put in "Death of Spouse"? Thank you again for all your support, you have saved my mom thousands of dollars.
