My mother and I had a joint bank account. The money in that account came solely from a reverse mortgage she had on her house. At the time of her death, there was about $54,000 in the account, and that money went directly to me because of the joint account status. We did not file probate, and we are not selling the house. We are going to sign the deed over to the bank that holds the rev. mtg. Will I need to pay federal or state taxes on $54,000? I live in California.

It seems to me that the $54K in the joint account were essentially gifts from her to you while she was alive. Assuming that the amount each year was under the gift tax filing threshold ($13K), then there is no tax issue here for you. But If the size of the gifts was greater than that, then she should have filed gift tax returns while she was alive, even though she most lilkely would not have owed any money on these gifts to you.

Even if gift tax returns are required, NO TAXES will be due because the gift tax return can access the Unified Credit.

My best recommensation of Kdagirl 13 would be to contact a local, competent tax professional to examine her situation and, if necessary, file the gift tax returns.