Divorce & Estate Appraisals

Divorces and estates can be difficult times, fraught with high emotions for clients. While financial institutions familiar with the ins and outs of an appraisal are by far our most common clients, we do recognize that appraisals done for non-real estate professionals will requires a fuller description of the appraiser's adjustments and reasoning in the hope that it can reduce conflict among all parties by providing a rock-solid opinion of value. Further, Fidelity appraisers are willing to stand behind their work and appear in court, if needs be, to testify regarding their opinion of value.

​Appraisal Review & Date of Death Appraisals

There are two less frequently used but equally important types of appraisals that can occur in divorce and estate settlement situations. The first is called an appraisal review and the second is a date of death appraisal.  

An appraisal review might be ordered if one or more parties wanted a second opinion on the quality of an already completed appraisal. If the review appraiser feels that the original appraisal does not present the best opinion of value, the review appraiser may issue a report of his or her own showing their reasoning as to why something in the original was not the best choice. It is important to understand, this does not overwrite or change the original appraisal, but supplements it in much the same way a second opinion could be asked of a doctor. 

A Date of Death Appraisals are needed to settle estates as the value of the home, for tax or inheritance purposes, is set at the date of death of the person who has passed. Due to market fluctuations and sometimes lengthy probate processes, the value of a property may have changed significantly between the person’s passing and the final disposition of the estate. These appraisals are retroactive and provide the value of the property on that day regardless of subsequent events.