Thank you for the detailed reply! It is very helpful.
The house was held as "“joint tenants with right of survivorship” by my parents. I just want to clarify how I (when the time comes) would prove the cost of improvements. This is a home that was purchased in the late 1960's for $20,000. Since that time basically every inch of the building has been updated.
Just in the last decade the house has received a new roof, new windows, new siding, new furnace, a major kitchen remodel, a second floor that was gutted to studs and remodeled, etc. I can't imagine my father has receipts for what is easily tens of thousands of dollars in improvements. In truth, very little of the house I actually was raised in remains untouched. We estimate the house to now be worth over $200,000. The value has not changed much due to the market since it was transferred to me and all improvements were completed before my mom's passing.
Must I prove the costs put into the house in improvements? I truly would not know where to begin even now having him assemble documents. Fair market value I can determine, it's proof of the costs of the countless improvements that were made before it was gifted to me.
Thanks again!
