"joetaxpayer[at]nospam.com" <joetaxpayer[at]nospam.com> wrote
- quote -

Of course, assuming the checking account was a joint tenancy
account, Mom having made a Will would not change the neice
being entitled to those funds, since joint tenancy property
passes irrespective of the terms of a Will.

- quote -

Stu

<< -------------------------------------------------> << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org > << ------------------------------------------------->

locie89[at]webtv.net wrote:

- quote -

Of course there'd be family friction. Mom had an estate
worth $60K if could even believe your sister, and instead of
$10K to each of six children, you each got $4K and gave the
niece a $36K house. This sad story should be an example to
everyone why a will is so important. If the niece was your
mother's caretaker as well as check writer, maybe she
deserved it all. But if she only wrote checks, the checking
account never should have had all your mom's money.

As I read this, it seems that there are two ways to look at
it; Simplest way is that you inherited $4K and there is no
tax on this small ammount.

Other way is that you inherited $6K worth of real estate,
did not hold it as an investment or rent it out, but sold it
to a relative at below market. You don't get to take a loss
on such a sale or parents would sell their homes to the kids
for such a loss. Nor is the money taxed since you still have
a 'basis' in it, which is the value when your mom died, $6K.

I guess it's good news you have no tax to worry about. Are
houses really that cheap in the country, even in WV? In the
northeast, $36K buys about 100 square feet in some towns.
JOE

<< -------------------------------------------------> << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org > << ------------------------------------------------->

<locie89[at]webtv.net> wrote:

- quote -

You don't owe any tax. The estate isn't large enough for
the estate to pay any tax at all. FYI, the estate pays the
inheritance tax, not the heirs anyway.

bw

<< -------------------------------------------------> << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org > << ------------------------------------------------->

locie89[at]webtv.net wrote:

- quote -

First, even though your sister MAy be in real estate, and
even though she SAID 36,000$, that won't hold water if any
of you are ever audited.

Should have had an independent appraisal, and armed with
that, each of you would have cause for taking a loss on your
individual tax returns.

Remember though, if the lawyer who handled the sale sends
each of you a 1099-B form for the 4000, you must show it on
your tax returns.

Cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

<< -------------------------------------------------> << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org > << ------------------------------------------------->

My mother died in Oct. 2002. She did not have a will. She
had a checking account set up (for convenience only) with
her name and my neice. My neice lived across the street and
wrote out mom's checks since my mother had Parkinson's
disease.

When my mother passed away there was $27,000 in this
checking account and according to the state of WV it legally
belonged to my neice even though it was for convenience
only.

The house was passed on to us six children. We did not have
the house appraised, but my sister, who is in real estate
and the mother of my neice, said that we could get about
$36,000 out of the house. My neice claimed that my mother
wanted her to have the house (remember no will), so after a
lot of family friction we decided to sell the house to my
neice for $24,000....this was the balance left in the
checking account at that time and knowing that she could not
afford to pay more we even paid the legal fees to have the
deed changed, etc. The sell was not done as a normal sell.
We each received $4000 and each paid $60 for the paperwork
fees.

My question, do we pay tax on the $4000? I would think so,
but someone else said that their tax preparer said that we
took a loss on the house and would not have to pay. I live
in OH and the sell of the house took place in WV. Would the
tax law be different for me than my siblings?

<< -------------------------------------------------> << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org > << ------------------------------------------------->