Built for a hostile reader
Someone is going to be paid to find the weakest thing in this report. That is the design constraint, and it governs everything about how it gets written.
Nothing gets asserted where it could instead be shown. Which sales were selected, and why those rather than the others available. What adjustment each one carried, on what evidence, and in which direction. What was inspected and what was not, and what had to be assumed as a consequence.
Where a conclusion leans on an extraordinary assumption, the report names it plainly instead of tucking it into a paragraph nobody reads.
The working test is a simple one: every individual adjustment ought to survive on its own, because one at a time is how they will be taken apart.
The date is counsel’s to fix
When the property has to be valued is a legal question, decided by the cause of action, by the pleadings, or by agreement between the parties. It is very often not today.
In a market that has moved, the distance between two plausible dates is large enough to be worth litigating — which is why it does get litigated.
The appraiser treats the date as an instruction and works to it. Where it is genuinely unresolved, say so before anything starts; the engagement can be written so a second date is added later at a reduced fee rather than commissioned afresh.
Independence is the whole product
An appraiser retained by one party is bound to impartiality under the USPAP ETHICS RULE exactly as a jointly retained one is.
That is not housekeeping. It is the only reason the report carries weight with a tribunal at all. A figure that bends toward whoever is paying is worth nothing the moment it is examined, and it exposes the appraiser to considerably more than a dissatisfied client.
Two consequences worth knowing before you engage anybody:
- No fee contingent on anything. Not on the value reached, not on how the matter resolves. It is prohibited, and an opposing expert will ask about it.
- No advocacy. The analysis can be explained and defended at length. Your case cannot be argued by the appraiser, and one who tries will damage it.
Where these arise here
Partition between co-owners. Dissolution of a partnership or LLC that holds real property. Contested estates where the date-of-death figure is in dispute.
Boundary and easement disputes. Bankruptcy schedules. Casualty and insurance claims, where the effective date usually sits immediately before the loss.
Divorce and equitable distribution comes up often enough to have a page of its own.
Testimony
Deposition and testimony are separate engagements, quoted separately.
Bring it up with counsel early rather than when it becomes pressing — availability is almost always what binds.
Whether a particular appraiser is qualified as an expert in a particular matter is the court’s decision, made on that record. No one can promise it beforehand, and anyone who does is telling you something about themselves.
This page describes appraisal practice, not law. Valuation dates, scope and expert disclosure obligations are counsel’s judgment to make, and nothing written here displaces it.
New Jersey specifics
- The New Jersey matters that generate these most often: partition between co-owners, partnership and LLC dissolutions holding real property, contested estates, boundary and easement disputes, casualty and insurance claims, and bankruptcy schedules.
- The date of valuation is a legal determination and sits with counsel. Commissioning before it is settled is how these assignments get paid for twice.
- Where a matter is heading for a contested hearing rather than a negotiated resolution, say so at the outset. It bears on how much support the report needs to carry.
What you receive
- A report dated as counsel or the pleadings require
- Comparable sales and adjustments set out one by one, each able to stand alone
- A stated scope of work, including what was left outside it
- Every extraordinary assumption and hypothetical condition disclosed
- Signed USPAP certification with the statement of independence
What we need from you
- The effective date, or word that it is still contested
- The intended use and intended users, which USPAP requires be identified
- Access to inspect, or documentation where inspection is impossible
- Any earlier appraisal of the property — including one you would rather we did not read
- The discovery schedule and any hearing date