House Appraisor and financial estimate professionals

[hubby]

Althought I may have a rough estimate of what our house value is worth, is it worth spending 500 to have your house appraised, even if the other spouse does not want to pay for half?

Or is this something lawyers would do anyway? What are other 'things' law firms will have you do? IE - Auctioneer to value house contents, etc... etc...

Hubby

[Grace]

You can use your municipal assessment as your house appraisal. House contents are usually divided by the parties and the lawyers don't get involved. Not worth the legal fees.

[Lindsay]

Hubby,

In litigated situations where the value of the matrimonial home is contested, lawyers normally arrange for an appraisal of the home for the date of separation prepared by a qualified appraiser. In more extreme cases, if the valuation date is contested (meaning there are two possible dates of separation), some parties will obtain an appraisal for both valuation dates.

The contents of the matrimonial home are often appraised as well. Sometimes, instead of getting an appraisal of all of the household contents, however, some parties will just get professional quotes for items that are in dispute.

Pensions are something else that are often valuated. These valuations will show the pension amount that was accumulated throughout the marriage (which is important if the pension holder had the pension before marriage) and also shows pension values for the earliest and latest possible retirement dates.

Of course, like Grace says, if the parties can come to an agreement and simply use the current market value, that's obviously way less costly.

Lindsay

[Grace]

Unless you have pricey antiques or artwork, do you think its worth having the contents appraised? I was under the impression they value it at "garage sale" prices.

[Lindsay]

Grace,

I suppose it really all depends on the volume of property that needs to be divided. It's true, some items are worth as little as $20.00 and $40.00, and some as high as thousands of dollars. There are too many cases where both parties simply don't want to give up a personal item, no matter how little it costs.

In the case of where one party wants to purchase the other's share in household items, and if there is a lot to go through, I think it's worth it. Another nice thing about getting an appraisal is that someone else is making the decision for the parties, because a lot of time and money can be wasted, especially through negotiation through counsel, on trying to agree on the value of a DVD collection or bedroom set.

Lindsay

[AtALoss]

Right now I am going through much the same with my own divorce. (the appeal was dismissed for those who knew about it) But it all depends on what the court is asking for as well as the lawyers. In mine the house was held up for the last 2 years. The court asked back then for a current market value. With the appeal dismissed that still holds. But the only thing is that the current date was moved ahead to today.(not 2 yrs ago) So having said that my lawyer has asked both of us to get a CMA or current market assessment. Most realtors will do this free of charge.
Another route is to go through appraisors especially if they want a value as of date of separation (if some time ago). More work and beware though that this appraisal will below a market value. This type of appraisal is generally used for tax purposes.

One can say they dont want to pay all they want but when the issue is before a Judge you both have entitlement to that equity usually 50/50. There are some exceptions, but will save that for another time.

[independentgal]

An appraisal is worth more weight than a realtor's opinion of value. My matrimonial property was appraised after separation it cost three thousand dollars. It is. Over 50 pages and takes everything into account. I had two opinions of value and they were about one and a half pages in length each. The judges took the appraisal as a value instead of the opinions in my case. For a residential appraisal it might cost 500.00 and would be a good investment if you think the other side is likely to contest the value.

[stressedby-X]

At the time of seperation I received a statement of opinion for the realtor that sold us the house and then again when we were going ahead for our conference settlement - four years apart.

Nobody blinked an eye. My X was free to get either it appraised or statement of opinion which he did not do. These are the figuires that we are using - which is very close to the municipal assessment. Better still it was free! The realtor is probably counting on one of us to be purchasing a new house so it was in his interest to do this for me.

As far as the contents I told X to take what he wanted. Lindsey was right they are going to be garage sale prices and lawyers don't have time to fight over the little stuff. I mean what are three old tv's worth now - probably over 4K new but next to nothing now.

[Joyce]

Definitely--most people (by and large) over of under

estimate the value of their home--if you get a full appraisal, you will both be aware of what your equity situation is. Sometimes, if someone signs off without getting an actual value--it is possible that it could be sold for a much greater amount shortly thereafter--and it is too late to get that equity back. A realtor value is not court ready.