That's helpful. I realize we're getting into the weeds but the charitable donation rules might help inform my situation. Those rules require appraisals for donations to have a valuation "effective date" no earlier than 60 days before and no later than the date of the donation. That makes sense because, in the absence of a market transaction, you would want an appraised value temporally close to the relevant date for tax purposes.
In my situation, the appraisal was done more than two months after death, and it estimated market value as of the date of the appraisal (not death). Therefore, it's not clear to me that it's a preferable means of the FMV as opposed to an arms' length transaction only two months later. I thought there was some kind of informal guidance that said sales within a certain period of time (6 months?) could be used to establish the estate's basis in the property. In any case, thanks again!
