Estate - IRA - Trust

[aliciant2743]

My mother and father recently passed away. There was an IRA that was my mom's, and my dad was the benificiary. When she passed it went to my dad. When he passed it went to his estate. Is there anyway to avoid estate or personal income taxes on this amount? We had thrown around putting the money into the estate. We are putting the family home in the estate. If we put it in the estate do we pay taxes on it if we were to for example need to fix a fence at the house that is in the estate?

[MarilynG1]

This link has general info on preparing an Estate Tax Return.

You may be able to transfer the funds into individual IRA's, depending on the will and other factors.  

Click this link for discussion on IRA Beneficiary is Estate. 

Any repairs you make to an inherited home can be added to the cost  basis of the home, since it is considered investment property at this point. 

Click this link for discussion on Repairs on Inherited Home.