Capital gains on second home acquired by quitclaim deed

[Pablo_New]

In 2012, my wife and her sisters were added to their mother's deed via quitclaim.  All parties are still living.  No one except their mother has lived in the house in the past two years.  The house was sold last year and we received 1099-s. 

From what I'm reading, the original valuation of the house cannot be stepped up since their mother was still on the deed.  I'm looking to confirm that, and my other part of the question is, how do you go about determining the original valuation to determine our part of the gain?  The house was acquired by their mother via quitclaim or inheritance, I'm not sure which.   If it were inheritance, I'm guessing the valuation would be at the time of inheritance, but if it that were done by quitclaim, I'm assuming the same rules would apply, the original valuation of the house....but how is that determined?  The house is over 60 years old!  Are county tax records reliable?

[NCperson]

the county records are reliable.   the deed office can tell you when the deed transferred and from that when comparing to the date of death you can determine if the quitclaim occurred prior to the death of whomever your MIL may have inherited it from.  The county may have record of what the property originally sold for, 

if it goes back 60 years, I can't imagine there is much of a difference between what it was worth at quitclaim and or inheritance...and remember the impact is really only 15% of the value, because it's the capital gain tax that is the end issue. 

[Pablo_New]

Thanks.  

How about the question regarding the actual cost basis for my wife and siblings?   My research so far indicates that the quitclaim, especially since she still retained partial ownership, makes the cost basis for the three siblings the same as their mother, not when the quitclaim addition for them was done.  Is that correct?

[NCperson]

this is getting confusing as there are two quitclaim deeds 

suggest reading this post as a guide; Paula has posted a lot and I find she knows what she is talking about.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-credits-deductions/discussion/how-do-i-calculate-the-basis-on-... 

the article indicates that the portion of ownership that was retained by MIL (and by the 'someone' in the QCD before that can be stepped up at death.