Estate work is almost always retrospective. The effective date of value is the date of death, or in some cases an alternate valuation date — not the date the appraiser was hired, which may be months or years later.
This is a research problem before it is a valuation problem. The appraiser has to establish what the market looked like on that historical date, using evidence available as of that date, and must not use knowledge of what happened afterwards.
That last constraint is the one most commonly violated. If a collection appreciated sharply after the decedent's death, that appreciation belongs to the heirs — not in the estate valuation. Reports that quietly incorporate hindsight are vulnerable on review.
Retrospective valuations are also routine in divorce where the parties have stipulated a valuation date, in insurance losses where value is measured immediately before the loss, and in tax matters tied to a specific event.
Written by
Jeremy C. Johnson — President / Valuation Specialist. AQB Certified USPAP Instructor, Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser, 21+ years and 7,000+ valuation assignments. Statement of capability →
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What the work actually looks like
Real assignments, client details removed — what each engagement actually turned on, rather than how it felt.
A house, a workshop of machine tools, a forty-year firearms collection and a stake in the family company — four disciplines that three appraisers had only partly covered. One engagement, one effective date, one set of assumptions.
A donation the regulations would have aggregated past the appraisal threshold, which the donor had assessed item by item. One qualified appraisal covering the group, itemized, signed inside the window the regulations allow.
An opposing report whose number was not obviously wrong — which is what made it dangerous. It failed on its own certification, and was answered section by section with an independent valuation to the correct definition of value.