How to Get a Full Step-Up in Basis (Even If You Don't Live in a Community Property State)
Big Picture Retirement®
Devin Carroll
4.7 • 545 Ratings
🗓️ 2 June 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
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Summary
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Big Picture Retirement Show does not provide tax, legal, or financial advice. |
| 0:04.3 | Listeners are encouraged to seek out their own advisors in these areas. |
| 0:10.5 | Hey, everyone, welcome to the Big Picture Retirement Show. |
| 0:13.5 | I'm your host, Devin, joined by my co-host, John K. Ross. |
| 0:18.2 | Howdy? |
| 0:18.9 | John, the step-up in basis, something that is not understood that well. |
| 0:23.7 | True. Because every state, it seems like, has a different rule. Well, and of course, it's federal tax law and then state property law and a whole bunch of other stuff. |
| 0:34.2 | Yes. In fact, I'm one, I'm often surprised that I would say most of the people, |
| 0:40.5 | I bet in my office, I talk to people who are the survivors of a recently deceased person. |
| 0:48.0 | I bring up the step up in basis at date of death at every one of those meetings and most of the time, first time they've |
| 0:57.7 | ever heard it. Yeah. So let's go back and make sure we clarify exactly what the step-up and basis |
| 1:02.9 | is here. Right. So I bought some property and that, well, no, no, no, no, no, let's do this one. |
| 1:09.6 | Let's use my client yesterday that I was talking to. |
| 1:12.9 | He put $2,000, and I haven't seen the statement, but this was his, his remembrance of the event. He put $2,000 into Apple stock. I can't remember when. A long time ago. All right, it's worth 1.6 now. Okay. |
| 1:25.8 | Now, let's say that that's me, right? |
| 1:28.6 | I was the one that was so fortunate to have done that. |
| 1:30.4 | Now I have 1.6 million. now. Okay. Now, let's say that that's me, right? I was the one that was so fortunate to have done that. |
| 1:30.4 | Now I have 1.6 million and I die. Now, Karen, she's got this apple stock that's worth 1.6 million. |
| 1:36.7 | And she goes, I never liked that stock. Now's my chance. I'm going to sell it. I want to sell it. |
| 1:42.1 | And so the question becomes how much in capital gain would she have to pay? |
| 1:47.6 | Yes. |
| 1:48.4 | Now, we invested $2,000 into that stock. |
... |
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