Q I am surpassingly familiar with ...

Q I am surpassingly familiar with IRS rules providing for a tax-free profit of up to $500000 for twos selling their primary residence -- I do plan in succession taking advantage of this.

My question is this: If the same of us dies during the year we were to betray our residence, what would be the power on the tax-free profit? If, for example, single in kind dies in January and the other betrays during that calendar year, would the tax-free provision still apply? If undivided dies in November and the residence sold in April of the following year, would the tax-free provision apply? I gues the bottom-line question is: Must the two be alive during the year the residence is sold and is there any "carryover" in the time period when the residence is sold?

-- Turlock Calif.

A. While your question upon the surface seems straightforward, in reality it