Its fairly common to know little about estates until having to go through the personal experience of one. When an estate has a transfer of ownership due to death or inheritance, it is typically required to have an appraisal for tax purposes. In most cases, either an attorney or accountant will order an appraisal or have a family member or executor select an appraiser for the job at hand which is most often the case.
Typically, its common that these appraisals are ordered around 2-6 months after the death of a loved one or inheritance of a property. Occasionally an appraisal is ordered almost immediately whereas other times the time period may be as long as a year or more depending on the circumstances at hand. We have the ability to do what is called a “Retrospective appraisal”. These are fairly common in estate settlement situations. These involve appraising a home based on a ‘prior date’ which is typically the owner’s date of death, hence the reason why estate appraisals are often referred to as ‘date of death’ appraisals.
In addition to needing a retrospective or date of death appraisal during the settlement process, often times the ordering party will also request a “current value” appraisal in order to determine current market value for purposes of sale or settlement between heirs.
Pilgrim Colonial understand the complexities involved in assessing the value of a property under these difficult circumstances and we’ll provide you with the best possible experience.
