Living in home

my mother transferred her home to her three children, myself included, through a quit claim deed shortly after my father passed away in 2001. she remained in the home until october of 2009 when she had to go into assisted living. my husband and i then moved into her home as a permanent residence. how long does the law require we stay there in order not to pay capital gain taxes. i know if she had been able to live there we would have had to pay capital gains upon her passing. my two other siblings have no other problem with us staying there and in fact would love for us to stay. however; the location is not convenient as my husband is now away from the home for most of the week because of the distance with his work location. we want to stay long enough to avoid capital gains if that is an option and during this time work on many home improvements that need to be done in order to sell the home. we will of course be paying for all housing expenses and improvements. we are not selfish people; the money from the sell will go to provide for mom's care and so the more we can manage to keep for her the better. we are also fortunate in that we all are on the same train of thought in this; no one is looking to benefit for themselves but for mom. we cannot take her as a dependent so she can utilize her medical expenses because she makes over the $3,300 a year allowed by law; but not by much! mom is a wonderful woman and we just want to keep as much as we can for her as her and my dad worked very hard their entire life. thank you very much for your help. this is a kind and generous offer to people who can't otherwise afford an attorney's price.