My dad passed a few months ago. He had two houses owned and titled in a trust. The trust was revocable and became irrevocable upon his death. Each of his children became co-trustees upon his death. The property is in Utah.

We have a buyer lined up for the houses and are ready to sell, but a family friend (who may or may not know what he's talking about) tells us that there will be a huge tax hit if we "do it wrong." We were under the impression that our basis in the house stepped up to the current value upon dad's death, so capital gains wouldn't be an issue. The homes and the overall estate aren't huge, so estate tax shouldn't be an issue. The only thing I can think of is some kind of tax on the trust - maybe if we sold it directly from the trust to the new buyer the step up basis wouldn't apply? Do we need to have the trust transfer the property to the trustees so the kids who inherited the properties are owners before the sale to a third party? What am I missing about this transaction that could lead to a tax disaster?

I have come to the conclusion that losing your parents is no fun at all. Even having a nice little financial windfall is kind of awful.

I'm guessing I'm going to need to get either a CPA or a tax attorney involved to make sure we don't screw up this transaction. Any recommendations in SL county?