This is not tax advice. We are not your CPA, your qualified intermediary, or your estate counsel. The clocks on this page are public rules. The sequence is theirs.
Estate planning for a 1031 book is two clocks, not one strategy. A like-kind exchange defers gain while you still hold titled real property. Death is a different statute — Internal Revenue Code §1014 territory — where the basis of property acquired from a decedent is often fair market value. That reset is commonly called a step-up when value is higher than the decedent's basis, and a step-down when it is not. Those machines do not share a timer, a form, or a desk.
The ranch, the timber, the wet meadow, the grassland — the living place under title — exists whether or not anyone exchanges into it. A 1031 is how titled capital can land on that place without an immediate sale tax. Ensurance funds the living condition after the deed. It is not the bequest, and it is not like-kind.
estate planning is not a 1031 sequence
You already deferred the gain on a commercial book. The next coupon — another NNN pad, another DST share — can protect the number. It does not leave a place. Estate planning asks a different question: what object is still there when the person who did the exchanging is not?
That is not a deathbed exchange, and it is not the last §1031 a person will ever do. In this series, the "last exchange" means the last commercial roll: titled living land, if that is the job. A DST can still be the right hold when the job is a paycheck without managing the building. Hold both. Do not collapse them into a tax play.
The 45-day identification and 180-day close live in what a 1031 exchange actually is. This page does not re-teach them.
A certificate is a later funding claim on a named place — not title, and not like-kind. One sentence is the whole gloss: a certificate is not like-kind. Coins are not like-kind either. Neither finishes the exchange. Neither is the bequest.
You might be thinking the industry already stacked these clocks into a product. Fair. Brokers sell holds. CPAs and estate counsel apply statutes to facts. Andrus & Morgan — Basin's licensed brokerage desk — can help source titled living land as a replacement object. We do not issue the opinion that tells you which clock to stand on.
the 1031 clock vs the death / basis clock
Two public rules. Read them as contrast, not as a recipe.
| 1031 clock | death / basis clock | |
|---|---|---|
| statute | IRC §1031 — like-kind exchange of real property | IRC §1014 — basis of property acquired from a decedent |
| what it does | Defers recognition of gain while titled real property replaces titled real property | Often measures inherited property at fair market value as of death (or the alternate valuation date if the estate elects it) |
| the timer | 45 days to identify, 180 days to acquire — or the due date of that year's return, if that date comes first | Date of death, or the elected alternate date. Not a 45/180 window |
| who runs it | You, a qualified intermediary, and a CPA | An executor or trustee, estate counsel, and a CPA |
| what happens to basis | Substituted / carryover basis. Deferred gain rides in the replacement | A new basis, often FMV. Commonly a step-up; sometimes a step-down |
| what it is for | Keep capital in real property without an immediate sale tax | Measure the asset the estate actually holds |
| what it is not | A death plan, a bequest, or a basis reset | A 1031, a 45-day clock, or a promise about any particular person |
A 1031 does not reset basis. It carries the deferred gain forward. §1014 is a different rule that often gives property acquired from a decedent a new fair-market-value basis. Whether, when, and how those rules apply on your facts is a file in a CPA's office and a conversation with estate counsel — not a sequence on this page.
This page will not tell you to keep exchanging, to stop exchanging, to gift, to hold, or to wait. Those are opinions. We don't write them.
what the death / basis clock actually is
A step-up in basis is the common name for a public rule: under IRC §1014, the basis of property acquired from a decedent is generally the fair market value of that property at the date of death — or at the alternate valuation date if the estate elects it under the rules that apply to that estate.
"Generally" and "often" are doing work. The statute is not a greeting card.
FMV can be lower. If the property is worth less than the decedent's basis, the new basis can be a step-down. The street name "step-up" is a nickname for the usual direction of appreciated real estate, not a floor.
Not every item is in §1014. Some rights to income — income in respect of a decedent — are carved out. Notes, retirement accounts, and other items can sit in different regimes. This page is about titled real property in the 1031 conversation, not a catalog of every basis rule in an estate.
How the property was held matters. Community property, joint tenancy, revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts, and entity wrappers change who is treated as receiving what, and at what basis. Those are fact patterns for estate counsel. They are not rows we will fill in for you.
Congress has rewritten carryover-basis experiments before. The public rule now is §1014 territory. This page is not a forecast of the next Congress.
You might be thinking: then why is this in a 1031 series at all? Because families and comment threads collapse the two clocks into one story. The 1031 clock is a lifetime deferral with a 45/180 timer. The death clock is a basis measurement at a date. Estate planning has to see both. Seeing both is not the same as being told what to do with them.
A lifetime gift is a third door, not a sequel. Property given during life generally takes a carryover basis under IRC §1015. That is another public contrast — and another place this page stops.
If a 1031 is pending when someone dies, that is a qualified-intermediary and estate-counsel problem. The delayed-exchange file does not become a blog flowchart.
the object is still not the clock
The living place under title can be the replacement — living land can be the replacement. If the job is still a paycheck, a DST or NNN can remain an honest hold. A certificate cannot finish the exchange. A donation, CRT, or easement is a different door — the tax play: donating land that pays you back.
We absorb QIs, CPAs, estate counsel, and land trusts. We are not them. Andrus & Morgan — Basin's licensed brokerage desk — can help source, broker, and structure titled land. Basin is the vertical, not the licensee. We are not the QI. We do not hold sale proceeds. We do not write the estate plan. We will not sell you a certificate as the replacement or as the bequest.
frequently asked questions
what is a step-up in basis?
A step-up in basis is the common name for IRC §1014: the basis of property acquired from a decedent is generally fair market value at the date of death (or the alternate valuation date if the estate elects it). If that value is higher than the decedent's basis, the new basis is higher — a step-up. If it is lower, the new basis can be a step-down. Exceptions and holding-form rules apply. Ask estate counsel. This is not a ruling on your estate.
how does a 1031 exchange interact with estate planning?
They are different clocks. A 1031 defers gain during life when titled real property replaces titled real property on the 45/180 timer, and the replacement generally takes a substituted basis. Estate planning also has to look at what happens to basis, title, and the object at death under §1014 territory and the rest of the estate file. How those rules interact on a given book — including a pending exchange — is a CPA and estate-counsel question. This page contrasts the clocks. It does not stack them.
can you 1031 into a legacy?
A 1031 into a legacy is a titled real-property roll into a living place under title — ranch, timber, wet meadow, grassland — if that place is like-kind real property held for investment or business, identified and acquired on the 1031 clock. It is not a certificate. It is not a coin. It is not a deathbed form, and it is not a sequence with the §1014 clock. The live steps are how to 1031 into living land.
next steps
You came here for estate planning. Leave with two named clocks and one named object.
The 1031 clock is a lifetime deferral. The death / basis clock is §1014 territory. Your CPA and estate counsel pick the sequence. The object is still the question this series exists to ask: another coupon, or titled living land.
If the replacement should be a living place, how to 1031 into living land is the steps — QI before you close, criteria, 45, 180, condition after title. Do not bring a wish for a token that finishes the exchange.
If you want a desk that sources that land against a real close date, start the finance conversation. Bring the close date, QI status, and one sentence of living-place criteria. We will not pick your estate sequence on that call.
If you want the hold framed as an investment, see solutions for investors.
This is not tax advice. Take the table to the people who sign opinions.
the series
legacy 1031 — the last commercial roll is for the place, not another coupon.
- legacy 1031: the last exchange is for the place
- heirs inherit a lease, or they inherit a living place
- step-up at death and a 1031 exchange are different clocks — you are here
Mechanics and the how-to closer live on the clock series: how to 1031 into living land.