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Executor reviewing estate paperwork and house keys before ordering a date of death appraisal
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Estate Planning
What Was the House Worth the Day They Died?

A date of death appraisal is the number an estate rests on. It is also, usually, the last thing anyone orders. Consider a hypothetical. Your father died in March, and the will named you executor. The house in Park Ridge is the largest thing he owned. Now the attorney has asked one question: what was it worth on the day he died? Not what it would list for today, and not what the assessor carries it at. So here is what that appraisal establishes and where it fits in settling the estate. Then, what to put in writing before the appraiser starts.

By the end of this article, you’ll know:

  • What the date-of-death value is used for, and why an assessment cannot stand in for it.
  • Where the appraisal fits in the settlement timeline, from the inventory to the returns to the distribution.
  • What the executor and the estate attorney should settle with the appraiser before the work begins.

What a Date of Death Appraisal Establishes

The report fixes one figure: the fair market value of the property on the day the owner died. Federal estate tax regulations, at 26 CFR 20.2031-1, define that value as the price a willing buyer and a willing seller would agree on, neither under pressure. Both know the relevant facts. A forced-sale price does not qualify, though. Nor does the county’s assessed value, unless that number happens to equal fair market value. In Cook County it rarely does. Assessments come out of a mass appraisal model, not a look at one house.

That single figure then does several jobs. It is the value the executor reports if the estate owes a tax return. It also becomes the tax basis the heirs carry when they eventually sell, under the IRS rules on inherited property. And when one heir keeps the house while the others take cash, it is the number the buyout starts from. One report, prepared once, serves every one of those uses.

Because the effective date sits in the past, the assignment is retrospective by definition. The appraiser inspects the property now, then values it as it stood on the date of death. Only sales a buyer could have seen at the time count. USPAP, the standards published by The Appraisal Foundation, requires the report to state that effective date and hold the analysis to it. Our article on appraisals for inherited property walks through how that reconstruction works. This piece stays on the process around it instead.

Where the Appraisal Fits in Estate Settlement

For an Illinois estate that goes through probate, the sequence runs like this. Whether a given estate needs probate at all, or passes through a trust instead, is a question for the family’s attorney.

  • Letters issue. Once the court appoints the representative, a clock starts. Under section 14-1 of the Illinois Probate Act, the representative files an inventory within 60 days. It has to describe the real estate, its improvements, and any mortgage or lien against it. In Cook County, those cases run through the Probate Division at the Daley Center.
  • Nine months. Both the federal and the Illinois estate tax returns come due nine months after death. The federal return, Form 706, only applies to a 2026 death above $15,000,000. That figure counts the gross estate plus adjusted taxable gifts, according to the IRS instructions. Illinois, though, sets a lower bar. The Illinois Attorney General puts the state threshold at $4,000,000. The Illinois return, Form 700, goes to the Attorney General’s office with a Form 706 and the appraisals attached. Whether an estate below the federal threshold still prepares a 706 for that purpose is a question for counsel. A paid-off house, a retirement account, and a life insurance policy can cross that line.
  • Distribution. Then the estate accounts to the heirs and distributes. If one sibling buys out the others, the date-of-death value anchors the price. If the house sells, the closing price answers to it.
  • The later sale. Years on, an heir sells and the basis question comes back. If the estate filed Form 706, it may also have issued Form 8971. That form ties each heir’s basis to the estate tax value.

No Estate Tax Due? The Value Still Comes First

Notice which step needs the value first. Even if no estate tax will be due, the basis and the distribution still depend on it. So the appraisal belongs at the front of the timeline, ordered when the letters issue. Waiting for a buyer’s offer puts it in the wrong place.

Alternate Valuation and Why the Date Can Move

An executor who files Form 706 can elect to value the estate as of six months after death instead. The IRS instructions set the conditions. First, the election has to lower both the gross estate and the tax. It applies to everything in the estate, not just the house. Property that sells or passes to heirs inside those six months takes its value on the day it left the estate. And the election, once made, is final. Illinois allows the same election on Form 700 for estates that are taxable in Illinois but not federally.

Consider a hypothetical Wilmette house worth $1,400,000 on the date of death in a softening market. Six months later, comparable sales might support $1,330,000, a drop of $70,000, or about 5 percent. If the rest of the estate also declined, counsel might weigh the election. But the lower value becomes the heirs’ basis too. So a smaller estate tax bill now can mean a larger capital gain later. That trade-off belongs to the attorney and the CPA. The appraiser’s job is to supply both numbers. If the election is even a possibility, say so before counsel writes the engagement letter. Then the assignment carries two effective dates from the start.

What the Appraiser Needs From the Executor

In practice, a retrospective assignment lives or dies on what the executor can document. Four things speed the work and make the report easier to defend.

First, the date. The death certificate sets the effective date, so send a copy at engagement. Second, condition on that date. Photos from the funeral week, the last listing, and repair invoices all help. If the basement flooded in June after a March death, the appraisal has to describe the dry basement. Third, how the decedent held title. A house owned outright is one assignment; a half interest held with a sibling is a different scope. So say which before the appraiser quotes a fee. Fourth, who will rely on the report. Naming the attorney and the CPA as intended users lets everyone work from one document without a second engagement. Our residential appraisal team asks for all four before scheduling the inspection.

Then keep the report. The heirs may not sell for a decade, and the basis question will be waiting when they do.

For Estate Attorneys: Scoping the Engagement

Most weak estate appraisals trace back to an engagement letter that never named the assignment. Four lines fix that.

State the effective date, and add the six-month alternate date if the election is live. Name the intended use as estate tax reporting, basis determination, and probate accounting. List the executor, counsel, and the CPA as intended users. Specify the definition of value as fair market value under 26 CFR 20.2031-1(b), quoted in the report. A lender’s market value definition carried over from a refinance form is the wrong one. And scope each parcel separately, with any fractional interest identified up front.

Why it matters on the return: the Form 706 instructions carry a 20 percent penalty when a reported value is 65 percent or less of the actual value. The Illinois return, meanwhile, goes to the Attorney General’s estate tax section with the appraisals attached. A report that follows the regulation’s definition answers the reviewer’s first question before anyone asks it. A lender form, by contrast, leaves it open.

Order the Appraisal When the Letters Issue, Not When the House Sells

The sequence is simple once the timeline is visible. Letters issue, and the executor orders the appraisal. Then the inventory goes in, the returns go out on time, and the distribution follows a number everyone has seen. Families who reverse it end up backing into a value after the sale. That is harder to defend and costlier to fix. So get the date-of-death value first. Everything else in the estate settles around it.

Settling an Estate With a House in It?

PahRoo prepares date-of-death and alternate-valuation appraisals for executors, estate attorneys, and CPAs across Chicago and Cook County, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Naples.

Order a Date-of-Death Appraisal

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a date-of-death appraisal?

It is a real estate appraisal with an effective date equal to the day the owner died. It states the property’s fair market value on that date, using evidence available at the time, even if the report comes later. Executors use it for the returns and the distribution, and heirs use it as their tax basis.

How do you value a house for probate?

A licensed appraiser inspects the property, documents its condition as of the date of death, and analyzes comparable sales from around that date. The report ties a fair market value to that effective date and explains the data cutoff. An assessor’s figure or an online estimate is not a substitute.

Who orders a date-of-death appraisal?

Usually the executor or administrator, often at the attorney’s request. A trustee orders it when the property sits in a trust, and a CPA may ask for it for the estate return or the heir’s basis. Name the attorney and the CPA as intended users so all can rely on one report.

How long after death can you get an appraisal?

There is no fixed deadline, but the estate needs the number early. Illinois probate inventories are due 60 days after letters issue, and estate tax returns nine months after death. Appraisers routinely prepare retrospective reports months or years later, though condition documentation gets harder with time.

What is the alternate valuation date?

It is the date six months after death that a Form 706 executor can elect instead. The election must lower both the gross estate and the tax, covers every asset, and is final once made. Property that sells inside the six months takes its value on the sale date. If the election is possible, tell the appraiser at engagement.

Retrospective Estate Work Across Five Markets

PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy prepares date-of-death, alternate-valuation, and buyout appraisals for executors, trustees, estate attorneys, and CPAs in Chicago and Cook County, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Naples. The same retrospective discipline runs our January 1 valuations for property tax appeals. See the full list of appraisal services, or contact the team with the date of death and the property address.

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Calendar open to January 1 beside a house key, the effective date for a retrospective appraisal tax appeal
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Property Tax
January 1 Is the Only Date That Matters in a Tax Appeal

A Cook County appeal can be argued in October, decided in December, and appealed to the state the following spring. None of those dates matter to the value. Illinois assesses property as of January 1. So a retrospective appraisal tax appeal has one effective date, fixed by statute, whether the hearing lands eight months later or eighteen. The most common way a strong appeal loses is not a bad comparable. In practice, it is an appraisal dated the wrong day.

By the end of this article, you’ll know:

  • Where the January 1 date comes from and what the Board of Review and PTAB do with it
  • How an appraiser rebuilds a January 1 value from evidence that arrives months later
  • Why a refinance or purchase appraisal with the wrong date can sink an otherwise good case

Where the January 1 Date Comes From

The rule is in the Property Tax Code. Under section 9-155, the assessor determines the value of each property “as of January 1 of that year.” So everything downstream inherits that date. The assessment is a fraction of fair cash value on January 1. The Board of Review decides whether that fraction is right on January 1. Then the Property Tax Appeal Board, if the case gets that far, rules on the same day’s value.

Cook County adds a wrinkle that makes the date carry more weight, not less. The county reassesses on a three-year cycle, township by township. We covered that cycle in our piece on the 2026 south suburbs reassessment. A value set as of January 1 in a reassessment year becomes the base for the next two years’ bills. So get that one date right and the benefit compounds. Get it wrong and so does the cost.

What a Retrospective Appraisal Tax Appeal Has to Prove

The PTAB’s own rules spell out what counts as proof of market value. Under 86 Ill. Adm. Code 1910.65, the Board will look at an appraisal of the subject “as of the assessment date at issue.” It will also look at a recent sale of the subject, at construction costs if the build date is close to the assessment date, or at three or more comparable sales with support for their similarity. Every one of those is anchored to the same January 1.

The same Part makes PTAB proceedings de novo. The Board considers only what is submitted to it, and gives no weight to what happened at the Board of Review. So an appraisal that carried the day at the county level has to be filed again at the state level. And an appraisal never dated to January 1 does not improve by being resubmitted. Our article on Board of Review evidence rules covers the county-level requirements in detail.

Also, the word “retrospective” describes the work, not the report type. By the time an appeal is heard, January 1 is in the past. The appraiser has to establish what a buyer and seller would have agreed to on that date, using only what was knowable then. That is a different discipline from a current-value appraisal. It shows most in the comparable selection.

Rebuilding January 1 From Evidence That Arrives Later

Consider a hypothetical Northbrook house reassessed for 2026. The appeal is filed in the fall, so the hearing sits well past the date. By then the appraiser can see sales from November 2025, February 2026, and June 2026. The November and February sales bracket the date and need only a small market conditions adjustment to land on January 1. The June sale is a different matter. If the market moved between January and June, the adjustment has to run backward to the effective date. The report should say how the appraiser measured that movement.

Physical condition follows the same logic, too. A roof that failed in March does not lower the January 1 value. A basement that flooded in December 2025 does. Permits, listing photos, inspection reports, and the property record card all help establish what the house looked like on the first of the year. In Cook County the record card also shows the characteristics the assessor used. So errors in living area, age, or condition rating are among the cleanest grounds for a change. They go to the assessor’s own inputs on the assessor’s own date.

Sales of the subject, meanwhile, deserve their own note. A closing near January 1 is powerful evidence, and both the PTAB rules and most county boards treat it that way. A closing well after the date is still useful, but it has to be adjusted back. The further it sits from January 1, the more the argument depends on the adjustment rather than the price.

The Refinance Appraisal Problem

Tax consultants running volume appeals see this one constantly. An owner refinanced in May, has a lender’s appraisal in hand, and wants to use it. The report is competent, of course. It is also dated May, prepared for a lender, with an intended use of mortgage lending. Submitted as-is, it invites the obvious objection. This is not a January 1 value, and it was not prepared for this purpose.

The fix is not to throw the report away. Instead, ask the appraiser, or a new one, for a retrospective value as of January 1 with the appeal as the stated intended use. Then the lender’s report becomes source material for condition and characteristics. The new report supplies the date and the purpose. For a consultant managing dozens of parcels, check the effective date and intended use on every appraisal before filing. That two-minute step will save more cases than any other.

Other States, Same Date

January 1 is not an Illinois quirk. Florida assesses as of January 1 as well, and its Value Adjustment Board petitions turn on that date the same way. Texas uses January 1 for most property as well. The mechanics of the appeal differ from state to state. But the appraiser’s task is the same everywhere PahRoo works: find the value on the lien date, not the hearing date.

The divorce lane has its own version of this problem, where the date is chosen rather than fixed. We covered that in our article on the date of value in a divorce appraisal. The tax version is simpler in one way and harder in another. Simpler, because nobody argues about which date applies. Harder, because evidence keeps arriving after the date has passed, and the appraiser has to keep it out.

Check the Date Before You Check the Number

Before an appraisal goes into an appeal file, confirm three things on its first page. The effective date is January 1 of the assessment year at issue. The intended use names the assessment appeal, not a loan. And the comparable sales either bracket the date or carry a stated market conditions adjustment back to it. If any of the three is missing, then the number on the cover is answering a question the Board did not ask. So fix the date first. The value follows.

Is Your Client’s Appraisal Dated January 1?

PahRoo prepares retrospective appraisals as of the assessment date for Board of Review and PTAB appeals, with the intended use and adjustments the rules expect.

Value It as of January 1

Frequently Asked Questions

What date does an Illinois property tax appraisal have to use?

January 1 of the assessment year at issue. Section 9-155 of the Property Tax Code sets the assessor’s valuation date at January 1, and the PTAB rules describe acceptable proof of value as an appraisal “as of the assessment date at issue.” An appraisal dated any other day is answering a different question.

Can I use a refinance appraisal for a tax appeal?

Usually not as-is. A lender’s appraisal carries the lender’s effective date and an intended use of mortgage lending. It can be useful source material for condition and characteristics, but the appeal needs a report with a January 1 effective date and the assessment appeal named as the intended use.

What is a retrospective appraisal?

An appraisal with an effective date in the past. The appraiser estimates value as of that earlier date using only information a market participant could have known at the time, and adjusts later evidence back to the date. Every tax appeal appraisal is retrospective, because January 1 has passed by the time the appeal is heard.

Do sales after January 1 count in a tax appeal?

They can, with care. A sale shortly after the date is often the best evidence available, and it can be adjusted back to January 1 for any market movement in between. The further a sale sits from the date, the more the argument depends on the adjustment rather than the price, and the report should show how the adjustment was measured.

Does the PTAB accept the appraisal I filed with the Board of Review?

Only if you file it again. PTAB proceedings are de novo under 86 Ill. Adm. Code 1910.50, which means the Board considers only the evidence submitted to it and gives no weight to what the county board decided. The appraisal must be part of the PTAB record on its own.

January 1 Valuations for Illinois Appeals

Property tax attorneys and consultants across Cook County and the collar counties rely on PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy for retrospective appraisals dated to the assessment year. Our MAI and SRA designated team prepares reports for Board of Review and PTAB filings as part of our appraisal services, and our property tax appeal FAQs cover what clients ask first. To discuss a parcel or a portfolio, contact our team.

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Signed quitclaim deed on a desk, the kind of divorce transfer an appraiser values at the transfer date
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Divorce Appraisal
Quitclaim Deed Divorce Transfers and What Appraisers See

A quitclaim deed takes five minutes to sign and a few days to record. In a divorce, that speed is the problem. A quitclaim deed divorce transfer can move a house, a rental building, or a vacant lot to a relative or a new LLC. It can happen before the other spouse knows the marriage is ending. When that happens, the attorney’s first question is usually about the law. My first question is about the date. Everything the court eventually weighs depends on what the property was worth the day it changed hands.

By the end of this article, you’ll know:

  • What a quitclaim deed does, and why it shows up in divorce files
  • The specific things an appraiser checks when a property was transferred mid-case
  • How a transfer-date appraisal gives counsel a number to argue from

What a Quitclaim Deed Divorce Transfer Actually Does

A quitclaim deed conveys whatever interest the signer holds in a property, with no promise that the interest is any good. It is the simplest deed there is. Spouses use it every day for legitimate reasons. Most often, one spouse keeps the house after a marital home buyout and the other signs off.

The trouble starts when the deed runs the other direction, away from the marital estate. A spouse signs the family’s two-flat over to a sibling for ten dollars. A vacant lot moves into a newly formed LLC. Title to a lake house lands with an adult child from a first marriage. On paper the property is gone. In the market, nothing about the property changed that day except the name on title.

That gap is where an appraiser earns a fee. The Illinois Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act treats real estate as transferred once the conveyance is perfected. It then measures the remedy against the asset’s value at the time of the transfer. Whether that Act, the dissipation rules in the divorce statute, or some other theory applies is the attorney’s call. Each one, though, turns on the same fact: what the property was worth on the transfer date.

Why the Transfer Date Becomes the Effective Date

In most divorce appraisals the court or the parties set the effective date, and it is often the trial date. We covered that choice in our piece on the date of value in a divorce appraisal. A transferred property breaks the pattern. The question is no longer what the house is worth today. It is what walked out of the estate, and when.

So the appraisal is retrospective. I value the property as of the deed’s signing or recording date, using only sales and market conditions that existed then. Sometimes the case also needs a current value, because the court may order the property returned or its value charged against the transferring spouse. That is a second effective date and a second analysis. Ordering both at once costs less than ordering the second one later.

Under USPAP, a retrospective value has to rest on information a market participant could have known as of the effective date. A sale that closed two months after the deed cannot support the value at the deed. Counsel should expect the report to say so plainly.

What an Appraiser Looks For in a Mid-Divorce Transfer

The deed itself is the first exhibit. I read the recorded instrument, not a summary, because the details matter. The grantee’s name tells me whether the property went to an insider: a relative, a business the spouse controls, a close friend. The stated consideration, along with the transfer tax declaration or exemption stamp attached to it, tells me what value reached the county’s records. A deed reciting ten dollars for a $600,000 two-flat is not evidence of value. It is evidence that value was not exchanged.

Then I look at what happened after the transfer. Who is living in the property? Who collects the rent and pays the taxes and insurance? If the transferring spouse still holds the keys and the bank account, the deed changed the name on title and little else. That pattern, retained possession after a transfer to an insider for nominal consideration, appears on the statute’s own list of factors a court may consider. I do not decide whether it is fraud. I do document it, because those facts sit inside the appraisal’s scope.

The property’s condition on the effective date matters too. Photos from a prior listing, a refinance appraisal, permit history, or the other spouse’s recollection all help reconstruct what the building looked like that day. They also show whether the deed came before or after a major repair, a fire, or a new roof.

Lenders meet the same deed from the other side. When one spouse tries to refinance the marital home to fund a buyout, a recent quitclaim to a relative or an LLC surfaces in the title search. Underwriting stalls until the ownership question is settled. A transfer-date appraisal already in the file answers the value half of that question before the loan officer has to ask.

Finally, I check the encumbrances. A property quitclaimed subject to a mortgage moves equity, not the whole value. The report separates the market value of the real estate from the debt against it. That way the attorney sees the actual dollars that left the estate. The same records we recommend in our guide to disputed property value in an Illinois divorce do double duty here.

Reconstructing the Market at the Transfer Date

A retrospective analysis takes more work than a current one, and the reasons are practical. Comparable sales have to reflect the record as it stood then, before later sales and later price movement crept in. Interest rates and inventory as of that date, not today’s, frame the adjustments. When the transfer happened years earlier, archived MLS records, county records, and old listing photos become the evidence base.

The result is a value the court can hold up against the consideration on the deed. A $600,000 building conveyed for ten dollars to a brother-in-law tells its own story once the number is on the table. So does a building conveyed for $580,000 to an unrelated buyer. That one looks like a real sale at a modest discount rather than a stripped asset. The appraisal does not argue the point. It removes the guesswork about the size of the gap.

Where the Appraiser Stops and the Attorney Starts

I establish value at the date the case needs. I document the facts around the transfer that fall within an appraiser’s competence. And I stand behind the report on the witness stand. Whether the deed was fraudulent, dissipative, or voidable, and what remedy the court should order, is legal characterization. That belongs to counsel and the judge. A report that wanders into it loses credibility fast, and opposing counsel will notice.

The same goes for reversing a transfer. Courts have tools to unwind a bad conveyance or charge its value against the party who made it. Which tool fits is a legal question. The appraiser’s job is to make sure that whatever tool the court reaches for, the value it applies is the right one.

Order the Transfer-Date Appraisal Before Discovery Closes

When a transferred property surfaces in a case, pull the recorded deed and the transfer declaration first. Confirm the exact date. Decide with the appraiser whether the case needs one effective date or two. Then order the retrospective appraisal early enough to disclose it with your expert designations. A value produced the week before trial draws the hardest attack. Fix the number to the date, and the rest of the argument has a foundation.

Did a Property Leave the Estate Before the Filing?

PahRoo prepares transfer-date and current-value appraisals for real estate quitclaimed before or during a divorce, documented for discovery and testimony.

Value the Transferred Property

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a quitclaim deed in a divorce?

A quitclaim deed transfers whatever ownership interest the signer holds in a property, with no guarantee of title. In divorce it is commonly used to move the marital home to the spouse who keeps it after settlement. Before or during the case, it can also shift property out of the marital estate to a relative or an entity.

Can a spouse transfer property before a divorce?

A spouse can sign and record a deed, but that does not settle whether the transfer holds up. Courts can examine transfers made in anticipation of divorce, and Illinois law allows dissipation and fraudulent transfer claims in the right circumstances. Whether a given transfer is open to challenge is a legal question for the attorney.

How is a transferred home valued in a divorce?

With a retrospective appraisal. The appraiser sets the effective date at the date of the deed. The value then rests only on sales and market conditions that existed at that time. If the court may also need a current value, the same assignment carries a second effective date.

Is a pre-divorce property transfer reversible?

Sometimes. Courts have remedies that can unwind a transfer or charge its value against the spouse who made it. Fraudulent transfer law provides its own relief. Which remedy applies, and whether one applies at all, depends on the facts and the attorney’s argument. The appraisal supplies the value that sets the size of the remedy.

What is a fraudulent conveyance?

In general terms, a transfer made to hinder, delay, or defraud a creditor. It also covers a transfer made without reasonably equivalent value while the transferor was in financial trouble. Illinois codifies this in the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act. Deciding whether a specific deed meets that definition is the court’s job, informed by counsel and by the appraised value at the transfer date.

Appraisal Support When a Deed Changes Hands Mid-Case

Attorneys across Cook County, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Naples bring PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy into cases where a property changed hands at the wrong moment. Our MAI and SRA designated team prepares retrospective and current-value divorce appraisals built for discovery and cross examination. Start with our overview of appraisals in divorce proceedings, review our residential appraisal services, or contact us with the recorded deed in hand.

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Modest single-family suburban home with gray siding and a small covered entry, used to illustrate valuing a marital home in a divorce.
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Divorce AppraisalResidential Appraisal
The Date of Value Problem: Why Timing Changes What the Marital Home Is Worth

Two appraisers can look at the same marital home and reach different numbers, both correct. The reason is usually the date of value. Set it on one day and the house is worth one figure. Set it on another, and the number moves. In a divorce, that single choice can shift a settlement by thousands, which is why the date of value in a divorce appraisal deserves attention early, not after the report lands.

By the end of this article, you’ll know:

  • What the date of value is and why it changes the number
  • Which date Illinois courts generally use for the marital home
  • When a retrospective appraisal is the right tool

What the Date of Value Means in a Divorce Appraisal

The date of value, also called the effective date, is the exact day an appraiser’s opinion of value applies to. It is not always the day the appraiser visits the home. The appraiser can measure market value as of today, or as of a date in the past, and the report states which one it used.

This matters because markets move. Interest rates shift, inventory tightens, a neighborhood heats up or cools off. So a home worth one figure in the spring may carry a different figure by the fall. The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice treat the effective date as a core part of the assignment, and a credible report ties every comparable sale back to it.

Which Date Illinois Courts Use

Illinois gives the court discretion here, but there is a strong default. Under 750 ILCS 5/503, marital property is generally valued as of the date of trial, or the date the marriage is dissolved, using a fair market value standard. The court can pick another date if the parties agree or if the facts call for it.

One rule trips people up. The separation date is usually not the valuation date. Value tends to keep accruing until the case is decided, so growth in the home’s worth between separation and trial often stays in the marital estate. Courts also avoid using different dates for different assets, which keeps the division consistent.

When a Retrospective Appraisal Comes In

Sometimes the question is not what the home is worth now, but what it was worth years ago. That is a retrospective appraisal. The appraiser sets a past effective date, such as the date of marriage, and reconstructs the market using sales that closed around that time.

This is often how a spouse traces separate property. If one party owned the home before the marriage, the value at the date of marriage helps separate premarital equity from the appreciation that built up during it. CPAs lean on the same figure to keep the tax and division math straight. So the choice of date is not a technicality. It decides what counts as marital in the first place.

How the Date Moves the Number

Picture a home that a couple bought near a market peak, then watched cool as rates climbed. An appraisal dated at filing might land higher than one dated at trial a year later. Neither is wrong. They answer different questions.

That gap is exactly why the effective date can become a bargaining point. A spouse hoping for a lower buyout may prefer a softer date, while the other pushes for the stronger one. The appraiser does not pick sides. But the attorney who sets the date early controls the terms of the fight instead of reacting to a number that already exists.

Set the Date Before You Order the Appraisal

Decide the effective date first, then order the work to match. If the case may need both a current value and a past one, say so up front, because a retrospective analysis takes different data. Confirm the appraiser can support the chosen date with real sales from that period, and can explain the choice if the report is challenged. Timing is a decision, so make it on purpose.

Need the Value Fixed to the Right Date?

PahRoo prepares both current and retrospective divorce appraisals, tied to the effective date your case needs and ready to defend.

Ask About a Date-of-Value Appraisal

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the date of value in a divorce appraisal?

The date of value, also called the effective date, is the specific day an appraiser’s opinion of value applies to. It fixes the moment the home’s market value is measured. Two appraisals of the same house with different effective dates can reach different numbers, because the market moves over time.

Does a home get appraised at the date of separation or the date of trial?

In Illinois, marital property is generally valued as of the date of trial or the date the marriage is dissolved, not the date of separation. Under 750 ILCS 5/503, the court has discretion to use the trial date or another date the parties agree to, so the separation date is usually not the valuation date.

What is a retrospective appraisal?

A retrospective appraisal estimates what a property was worth on a specific past date, such as the date of marriage. The appraiser reconstructs the market as of that date using sales that closed around then. It is common when tracing how much of a home’s value is separate versus marital property.

Can the chosen date change the settlement?

Yes. Because home values shift over time, the effective date can change the appraised value, and that changes the equity each spouse divides. In a fast-moving market, the gap between two candidate dates can be large enough to matter in a negotiation.

Can you appraise a home for a past date?

Yes. A licensed appraiser can prepare a retrospective appraisal with a past effective date, relying on comparable sales from that period rather than today’s market. The report states the effective date clearly, so everyone knows what point in time the value reflects.

Need an Independent Divorce Appraisal?

PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy prepares current and retrospective valuations across Cook County and the wider Chicago area. For background on how we support attorneys and their clients, see our overview of appraisals in divorce proceedings and our residential appraisal services, or contact us to set the right effective date for your case.

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etrospective market value appraisal analysis for tax attorneys
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Real Estate
Retrospective vs Current Market Value for Tax Cases

A partner calls and asks for an appraisal. The first question back is never about the property. It is about the date. Retrospective vs current market value is not a preference either side gets to express. The filing, the statute or the court fixes the date, and everything else follows from it.

By the end of this article, you’ll know:

  • Why a Cook County property tax appeal is a retrospective assignment, not a current one
  • What the Assessor’s Rule 14 actually requires an appraisal to contain
  • What the IRS uses for estate property, and why a sub-threshold estate may still need the work

Retrospective vs Current Market Value, the Short Version

Both are opinions of market value. But the effective date is different, and that difference drives everything else.

A current appraisal answers what the property is worth now, using what the market is doing now. A retrospective appraisal answers what it was worth on a fixed date in the past.

So for the second one, the appraiser rebuilds the market as of that date. Sales that had already closed. Rents in place then. Condition and use as they stood, along with the information a buyer could reasonably have had at the time.

One thing worth saying plainly to clients: a retrospective value is not a current value adjusted backwards. It is a separate analysis on a separate data set, and it usually takes longer than the current-date version of the same assignment.

In Cook County, a Tax Appeal Appraisal Is Always Retrospective

Illinois assessments attach to a lien date of January 1. The Official Appeal Rules of the Cook County Assessor use that phrase throughout, and every evidence rule in them counts forward or backward from it.

Think about where that puts you. When your township opens, January 1 is already months behind. By the time a file reaches the Board of Review, longer. At PTAB, longer still.

So an appraisal dated today answers a question nobody in the process asked. The effective date belongs on January 1 of the appeal year, and the report has to say so on its face.

The rules also put an outer limit on staleness. Under Rule 14, an appraisal offered in support of an appeal should be dated within the triennial period for that property, or at least no more than two years before the lien date of the appeal year.

What Rule 14 Asks the Report to Contain

This is the part worth reading before you commission anything, because it shapes the engagement. Rule 14 says an appraisal has to pertain to the property’s highest and best use, comply with USPAP and Illinois law, and be credible under USPAP.

Then the specifics. An original color photograph of the front of the subject, date stamped, plus photographs of every comparable used in the analyses. The PIN for the subject, and the PIN for every property used. Sales and market data that are available, reasonable and truly comparable, with no cherry picking. Where the income approach appears, cap rates drawn from relevant current market data.

And then the one that catches firms out. Filers must provide all appraisal reports and other valuation reports on the subject prepared within two years before the lien date, including reports prepared for financing or management purposes. The bank’s appraisal from fourteen months ago goes in the file whether it helps the argument or not. Better to know that before the engagement than after.

Two consequences round it out. An appraisal believed to be in gross violation of USPAP may go to the IDFPR, and it will not count as credible evidence. And the Assessor does not re-review its own appeal decisions, so the next stop is the Board of Review.

Date of Death Fixes the Estate Side

The federal rule is simpler to state, but it lands in the same place. The IRS treats the gross estate as an accounting of what the decedent owned at the date of death, valued at fair market value. Not what was paid for it. Not what it was worth when it was acquired.

For 2026 the filing threshold sits at $15,000,000. So a lot of people assume that nothing below it needs an appraisal.

Look at portability before you accept that. Passing a deceased spouse’s unused exemption to the survivor requires a timely filed estate tax return. So estates well under the threshold file anyway, and a filed return still needs values that hold up. Whether a given estate should file is counsel’s call, not ours, but the valuation work follows the decision either way.

These assignments are also retrospective almost by default. The engagement arrives after probate opens, sometimes years after, and litigation over an estate can push the effective date back further still.

When a Current Value Is the Right Instrument

Plenty of matters do call for today. Financing and collateral review. A sale or a partner buyout priced at present terms. Damages measured as of now, too, and settlement posture heading into mediation.

The test is the same one every time. What date does the governing rule, filing or order attach to? Once you answer that, the assignment writes itself.

One practical note for matters that need both. A single engagement can carry two effective dates, and it often should. Say so at the outset rather than halfway through, because the scope of work drives the research, the timeline and the fee.

Fix the Date Before You Order the Report

Three questions settle almost every one of these calls, so they are worth asking first. What date does the governing rule attach to. What does the body reading the report require it to contain. And what other valuations already exist on this property.

The third one catches people. A report your client never commissioned can still land in the record, and in Cook County the rules say it has to. Knowing that on day one changes how the file gets built.

Working a File With the Date Already Fixed?

Send us the matter, the date, and the body that will read the report. We will tell you what the assignment actually is before anyone commits to a scope.

Request an Appraisal

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a retrospective appraisal?

It is an opinion of market value as of a specific past date, rather than as of today. The appraiser reconstructs the market as it stood then, using sales that had closed, rents in place, and the property’s condition and use at the time, rather than current conditions.

Can an appraiser adjust today’s value back to an earlier date?

No, and a report that appears to do so tends to draw scrutiny instead. A retrospective assignment is a separate analysis built on data from the effective date, not a current value indexed backwards.

What effective date does a Cook County property tax appeal use?

The lien date, which is January 1 of the appeal year. The Assessor’s appeal rules count from that date throughout, and Rule 14 asks that an appraisal be dated within the triennial period for the property, or at least no more than two years before it.

Does an estate under the filing threshold still need a date-of-death appraisal?

Often, yes, if portability is in play. Portability of a deceased spouse’s unused exemption requires a timely filed estate tax return, and a filed return needs values that hold up. Whether to file is a question for the estate’s attorney.

Can one appraisal cover two effective dates?

One engagement can, and for matters that need both a historical and a present value it usually should. Flag it at the outset, because two dates mean two sets of research and a different scope of work.

Appraisal Work Built for an Attorney’s File

PahRoo works out of Lincolnwood and covers Chicago and Cook County, along with Dallas, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Naples. Michael Hobbs, MAI, SRA, signs every report, and he is also available for testimony. Our commercial appraisal practice handles retrospective and current assignments for appeals, estates and litigation. There is more on the shifting politics of Chicago commercial tax appeals, and on what our Chicago coverage includes.

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