@ljharnick , agreeing with excellent reply from @Mike9241 , just wanted to add that this is so if , and only if , your father did not put the house in an irrevocable trust. This is sometimes done to meet the "spend down' path/ requirement to get medicaid. . This is because in such a case the trust and its contents/assets are outside the "Estate " of the demised person and hence generally cannot get a step-up. Most people just have a revocable trust and so it is not an issue.
