Capital Gains vs. Estate Tax

[tblazer2000]

My siblings and I stand to inherit a large piece of land in So. California valued at around $3.5-4,000,000. It is in an environmentally sensitive area, where the county (San Diego) is already imposing heavy zoning restrictions, and we feel this will have a poor affect on its value (i.e., lack of ability to subdivide.) Some of us feel we want to urge our elderly mother to sell now and put the proceeds into another form in the estate. Others are fearful of the enormous capital gains (the land was bought in the 60s for under $100,000) coupled with then having to pay estate tax (California) on it. They want to take a chance on holding onto it for now. Then someone brought up the idea of exchanging it for other land with less restrictions. We'd like some advice regarding what to do with the land to pay the least amount of tax, or at least not have to pay twice, so we can properly inform our mother.

 

[advisor10]

3-20-2002

This type of question would be better answered (or more appropriately) by consulting with a CPA or tax law and real estate attorney or financial planner, locally in your area. But you should also post it on the TAX LAW section of freeadvice.com