 Pay
for 2 home appraisals in divorce
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 Dear
Real Estate Adviser,
My wife and I had our house appraised last summer when we were first talked about splitting up. We will be officially divorced this spring and understand an appraisal is critical in buying one spouse out. Do we use the appraisal figures from last summer or do we have the house appraised again? I ask because the market has gone down since then.
-- P. Faulk
 Dear
P.,
Sorry to hear that you and your spouse are splitting. As you have
no doubt come to realize, there are many difficult challenges in judiciously splitting
up an estate, particularly in a divorce. Now you are wrestling with what is typically
the biggest asset of them all in these scenarios -- the home.
And
yes, you will certainly need to have your house reappraised to reflect recent
changes in the market, particularly since the valuation should reflect the home's
worth at the time of the divorce. In fact, a timely appraisal by a qualified third
party is required to settle a divorce in most states.
You don't say if one of you will definitely be buying out the other
or if you're thinking about selling the house and splitting the proceeds.
Either way, to avoid potential conflicts of interest and additional
acrimony, divorcing spouses should each get independent appraisals.
If there is a disparity in the two, the divorcing parties -- or the
divorce judge -- may decide to meet somewhere in the middle.
If you decide to get just one appraisal done, make
sure the choice of appraiser is made by mutual consent and that
both of you are present, if possible, when it is being done. Any
perception that either of you is trying to unduly influence the
appraisal could cause additional legal pains for everyone involved.
You see, it is not uncommon for one or both parties to try to get
an appraiser to raise or lower the home's value to serve his or
her individual end purpose. Any appraiser who's been at this type
of work for a while has heard plenty of such pleas and most likely
has conditioned himself to politely ignore them -- sometimes putting
an end to such conversations, if necessary, with the statement.
"But what you are requesting is illegal." So go easy
on the appraiser(s) -- both of you!
Also, make sure you are using a reputable, licensed local appraiser
who is experienced with "divorce appraisals," because these
types of appraisals must be supportable in divorce court. The appraiser
should also be familiar with the timing and procedures used to best
match the appraisal's effective date and value with the date of the
divorce. Feel free to ask how this is determined.
To ask a question of the Real Estate Adviser, go
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page and select "buying, selling a home" as the topic.
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