Settling an estate is work that arrives at a hard time. As executor you are carrying out someone’s wishes under deadlines you did not set, often while the family is still grieving. We handle these assignments promptly and without adding to what you are already managing, and we can work directly with the attorney or accountant administering the estate so you are not relaying technical questions back and forth.

Attorneys, accountants, and fiduciaries engage us for estate valuations, equitable distribution, and other matters requiring a supported opinion of value on real property. Interested parties frequently arrive with differing expectations about what the appraisal will show. We do not resolve that by accommodating anyone. We develop the opinion from the market data and report the reasoning behind it, and a conclusion reached that way is one every party can examine on its merits — which is what makes it useful when the parties disagree.

Retrospective appraisals and the date of death

An estate appraisal usually calls for an effective date in the past, which is a different assignment than appraising a property as of today. It requires data available as of that date, an analysis of market conditions as they existed then, and a report that documents both. We complete retrospective assignments regularly and are equipped to develop the market evidence a past effective date demands.

The effective date itself — date of death, an alternate valuation date, or another date the matter requires — is determined by the estate’s attorney or accountant. We appraise to the date they provide.

The definition of value matters

Estate and tax work generally calls for fair market value as defined for federal tax purposes, which is not identical to the market value definition used in mortgage lending. The definition applied, the property rights appraised, and the intended use all shape the analysis, and we confirm them with counsel at the outset rather than assuming.

Supporting what gets filed

A value reported to the Internal Revenue Service or a state agency should be supported by an appraisal that shows the appraiser’s methods, the data relied on, and the reasoning connecting them to the conclusion. We cannot tell you how any agency will treat a filing — that is between your attorney or accountant and the agency. What we provide is a report developed and reported under USPAP, documented well enough that a reviewer can follow the analysis and see where the number came from. When an appraisal is questioned, it is almost always the support that is questioned, not the number itself.

Confidentiality

The USPAP Ethics Rule binds us to confidentiality regarding assignment results and confidential information, disclosed only to the client and parties the client authorizes, or where law or a duly authorized body requires it. Estate matters are private, and we treat them that way.

If the appraisal is challenged

We remain available to explain and support our analysis — to the estate’s counsel, to a reviewer, or in testimony if it comes to that. That support is an explanation of how the conclusion was developed, which is the only form of support worth having.

Contact us to discuss the property, the effective date, and the intended use, and we will tell you what the assignment requires.