@johnm40 wrote:
@DavidD66 - does your response only apply to a community property state? The land in question is in Florida. From what I gather FL is a common law state.
My father had already passed by the time my mom gifted the land to me.
In a community property state, your mom would get a full step up. In a non-community property state, she gets a half step-up.
Basically, start with the basis you can prove on the day before your father died (assuming the own the home together). In your case, you can prove a basis of zero for your mother's half and zero for your father's half. When your father died and your mother inherited his "half", she gets a stepped up basis equal to the fair market value on the date he died, but only half the step-up because she only inherited half the house. So her new basis is (half the provable old basis, or zero) plus (half the FMV on the date your father died.)
You don't need county records for that, just a real estate estimate for the date your father died. If you want to prove a higher basis for your mothers half, you need to dig deeper.
And, both of us forgot to mention, improvements also raise the basis, if you can prove their cost. Like a new roof, new furnace, remodeling the kitchen, etc. But only improvements still part of the house. If the carpeting was replaced in 2000 and again in 2015, only the 2015 cost raises the basis.
