Eagle Home Appraisal Long Beach

Divorce appraisals in Long Beach

Deciding who keeps the house, or how to share what it is worth, goes better when both sides are looking at one fair number. Call with the address and the date your attorney gave you, and we will talk about how the report would be used.

California divides community property, and the date to value is a question for your attorney.

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One number both sides can look at

When a marriage ends, the house is often the largest thing there is to divide, and it is easy for each side to cite a different figure: a listing, an online estimate, a neighbor’s sale. An appraisal replaces those with one supported opinion of what this house is worth on a stated date, for a stated use. Before anything is ordered we talk about who the readers are and what the report must cover.

Which date?

California is a community property state, and the date for valuing the house is a question for your attorney or mediator. As a general rule the court values assets as near as practicable to the time of trial unless it orders another time (Family Code section 2552). Spouses who settle often agree on a date themselves, and a buyout, a refinance or a sale can each point somewhere different. Some cases need two dates, for example the date of separation and a current date.

A Long Beach house is rarely a plain one

Back-house or garage conversions, a duplex where one spouse already lives in a unit, a Belmont Shore condominium with HOA questions, a historic-district Craftsman with decades of additions: each changes which sales are comparable and what the report has to explain. Tell us about the extras when you call.

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Where a Long Beach divorce is filed

Divorces in Los Angeles County go to the Family Law Division of the Superior Court. A case can be filed in the Central District or in the district where either spouse lives, and the court’s South District holds sessions at the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse in Long Beach (Local Rule 2.3). Your attorney chooses where to file. Section 2552 also lets the court, for good cause and on notice to the other spouse, value property at a date after separation and before trial, so the date is worth settling early.

Who engages the appraiser

Decide with your attorneys who is hiring the appraiser and who may rely on the report, and tell us before work begins. Sometimes one appraiser serves both spouses by agreement. Sometimes each side wants its own. Testimony is a separate conversation to have up front, not an add-on after the fact.

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What to gather

The address and the value date or dates your attorney names.
Any renovation, permit or addition papers.
The deadline: a settlement conference, a trial date or a closing.

A few questions that come up.

Which date should the appraisal use?

That is a question for your attorney or mediator. Courts generally value assets as near as practicable to trial unless another time is ordered, and settlements often agree on their own date. Tell us the date or dates and we will build the report around them.

Can we use one appraiser for both of us?

Sometimes. Decide with your attorneys who is engaging the appraiser and who may rely on the report, and tell us before work begins.