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Assets purchased and owned by a decedent in a common law state are as follows:

Home owned Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship with spouse, cost basis $50,000, date of death value $100,000.
Rental property owned Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship with child (Decedent contributed the full consideration), cost basis $50,000, date of death value $100,000.
The new cost basis to the beneficiaries are as follows:

a. home $50,000; rental $50,000
b. home $75,000; rental $50,000
c. home $75,000; rental $75,000
d. home $75,000; rental $100,000

User Turhanco
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Final answer:

The correct answer is d. home $75,000; rental $100,000, reflecting the step-up in basis for the home at half the date of death value for the spouse's share and full step-up to the date of death value for the rental property owned with the child.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question deals with establishing the new cost basis for inherited assets under common law state rules. When someone dies, his or her assets often get a step-up in basis to the fair market value at the time of death.

In the case of a home owned as joint tenants with rights of survivorship with a spouse, the survivor would receive a step-up basis on the decedent's half of the property's value, so the new cost basis for the home would be $75,000 ($50,000 for the survivor's original half plus $25,000 step-up on the decedent's half, half of the date of death value).

The rental property owned with a child, who did not contribute to the cost, would also receive a step-up in basis for the entire value because the decedent funded the entire purchase.

Therefore, the new cost basis for the rental property is $100,000. The correct answer is d. home $75,000; rental $100,000.

User Gerrit Geeraerts
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