Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about charitable giving and estate planning ideas. Many taxpayers created irrevocable trusts and transferred significant ...

Dear Liz: I own a house with my longtime boyfriend. If one of us dies, how does the capital gains step-up affect the other? Answer: The deceased partner’s share of the home will get a new basis for ...

What if a husband and wife own a home together that increases in value by $500,000. When one spouse dies and the other owns the property themselves, do they receive a step-up in basis? Or do they only ...

With the recent increase of the 2026 federal estate and gift tax exemption to an unprecedented and astounding $15 million per person (a whopping $30 million for married couples), the necessity of ...

Estate planning has long been about building and preserving wealth, minimizing taxes and smoothly transferring assets across generations. With the new administration in office, discussions around ...

Stepped up basis can minimize the tax bill. Basis is a key concept to understand here. Let’s say you bought a bunch of stock for $100,000 and a few years later sold it for $250,000. To understand how ...