Calculating my share of marital property. For the sake of round numbers, if a marital home is to be left to the dependent spouse (me), in today’s market. Let’s say the house is appraised at $500,000 but its true market value today is perhaps $350,000. Then my STBX wants to claim he has given me, the dependent spouse, $500k in value, but it’s really not worth but $350k for the foreseeable future. In general, how is such a situation handled? That would be $150k less real value than he’s claiming he’s giving me… Advice? In a mediation situation, not yet court, I believe I should negotiate based on the real value of the asset; and not an inflated appraised value.
You should absolutely negotiate based on the real value of the home, have the home appraised prior to mediation. Any present appraisal will should account for the market decline.
I’ve observed this situation with a friend. This is just what happened, not any kind of established legal procedure. I am not a lawyer.
There ended up being 3 appraisers involved, total.
I suggest you get whatever agreement for the method of appraisal to be agreed to. Otherwise, you will find an appraiser who will say $350K, then he will find an appraiser who says $500K, and it can go on for a long time. In the end, if your attorneys can first agree in_writing on an appraiser or appraiser(s) whose reported value will be binding, that will help. In the case I know about, the attorneys agreed verbally on which appraiser to use, then when the appraisal came in very low, the other attorney refused to recognize the appraisal and hired another. Finally, a 3rd appraiser was brought in to make the final call.
Good luck!