My retired mother has a very large amount of a local utlilty stock
that she was going to leave to me in her will.  Do to a rather serious
accident, I could really use money now.  My mother is willing to give
the stock to me now, but she is concerned about capital gains tax. 
The stock was purchased at approx $16 a share years ago and is now
worth about $30 a share.  If she signs over the stock to me now and I
turn around and sell it, would she be liable for capital gains taxes? 
Could we get around that problem if she only signs over $10,000 worth
of stock to me?  Thanks.

if your mother gives you the stock, and you sell it, she's not
responsible for capital gains, but you are, using her original basis,
so, depending on your income level, you could owe as much as 20% of
$14/share.

if she sells the stock and gives you the proceeds, then the capital
gains and associated tax liability would go to her.

The $10,000 limit, which I believe actually changes to $11,000 for
2002, is about "gift tax"; if she gives you more than this limit in a
single year (using the current value of the stock, not her basis) then
it has estate tax consequences; if she has enough assets (more than
$600K or so) that you have the possibility of paying estate taxes, you
should see a professional about estate planning issues if you haven't
already.

disclaimer: I'm not an accountant or a laywer, but I read too much
about this stuff.

thanks for the question, let me know if you need any clarification.

--David