capital gains on sale of second property

emcatnap

Can anyone help me out please?

If a second property has been jointly owned say from 1990 until one of the owners dies in 2012 (and the half of the property is passed to the spouse who owns the other half )and the property is then sold in 2013

Does the spouse pay gapital gains on half the house to when the husband dies and then full capital gains from the date of death until the date of sale?. Because she didnt fully own the house from when she acquired it until her husband died.

I hope Im making sense and its a little clearer than mud!

thanks in advance

CeeJaySix

If they were tenants in common, I believe the base cost on the inherited half will be the probate value of the deceased's half, and base cost on the half owned by the survivor will be 50% of the cost at acquisition.

I'm not clear on the situation for joint tenants; as this is usually outside the probate process and both parties effectively own the whole property, I believe base cost will be the original cost in full (= bad for CGT), but having had a quick look I can't find anything to confirm this (and I'm running out of lunch break!). Maybe someone else can clarify/confirm/deny?