What Happens If The Court Orders An Appraisal Of Personal Property In Divorce?

If you are getting divorced and you own a home, a car, an expensive antique or some other property that has significant value, the Court or your attorney may order an appraisal of the property.

If the Court orders an appraisal, then it will appoint what is known as a neutral appraiser. The Court will also decide how much each party pays the appraiser. The Court will usually make each party pay 50% of the appraiser’s fee, but, that is not always the case.

A neutral appraiser is not supposed to favor one party over the other. The appraiser should consider industry standards in evaluating the value of the property. Typically, the appraiser will issue a written report stating the value of the property, the date that the property was valued, and how it arrived at the value.

If you are not satisfied with the neutral appraiser’s value, you could ask the Court to choose a different appraiser or order the original appraiser to issue a different appraisal. However, it is very unlikely the Court would do so. You could also obtain your own appraisal. But, again, it is unlikely that the Court would accept your own appraisal. Although you are not stuck with a bad appraisal, it is very difficult to overcome it. In order to overcome a “bad” appraisal, you would have to show that the appraiser is biased or that the appraiser did not use the proper industry standards.

If an attorney orders an appraisal, then the Court will usually not accept that appraiser’s evaluation. Typically, the reason an attorney would order its own appraisal, is to get a sense of the market value and perhaps as a negotiating tool.

In some rare cases, typically, if the property has great value, the attorneys for both parties may obtain their own appraiser. In those cases, each appraiser may submit a report to the Court, and the Court may decide which appraisal value to use, or it can decide to use a value in-between the two appraisals.

If you are seeking an attorney for your divorce or need more information about divorces, call David Badanes and the Badanes Law Office at 631-239-1702, email at david@dbnylaw.com or visit our web site: www.dbnylaw.com.

The Badanes Law Office has offices in Northport, Garden City, Brooklyn and Manhattan.

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