BobKamman
Level 15

@sjrcpa 

Absolutely right.  The OP tells us, 

"Seller is listed as my client as successor trustee of the parents trust.  Title to the house was never in the trust."

Best place to start would be the escrow agent that handled the transaction.  What might have happened is that Mom and Dad put their interest in the house into a trust, but the daughter did not sign off on that.  So when the house was sold, the deed and payment showed the seller as "Mary Smith, as Successor Trustee as to 84% and in her individual capacity as to 16%."  But does it really matter?  She gets stepped-up basis as of her father's date of death anyway.