What this appraisal is for
An estate appraisal answers one question: what was this property worth on the day the owner died?
Everything downstream depends on that figure. It sets the cost basis the heirs inherit. It supports the New Jersey inheritance tax return, and the federal return where one is required.
It is a retrospective assignment. The report is written today, with an effective date in the past.
That means the analysis is built from sales that closed around the date of death — not from the market as it stands now. The distinction is the whole job.
An appraisal that quietly leans on today’s market to value a 2023 date of death is not defensible. It is the most common defect in date-of-death work.
Why New Jersey estates need this more often than people expect
The reason is the transfer inheritance tax, and it catches people out because it is not the tax they were expecting.
New Jersey repealed its estate tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2018. It did not repeal its inheritance tax. Those are two different taxes with two different triggers.
The inheritance tax does not care how large the estate is. It cares who inherits:
| Class | Who | Treatment |
|---|---|---|
| A | Spouse, civil union or domestic partner, child, stepchild, grandchild, parent, grandparent | Exempt |
| C | Sibling of the decedent; a child’s spouse or surviving spouse | First $25,000 exempt, then 11%–16% |
| D | Everyone else — nieces, nephews, cousins, friends | 15%–16% |
| E | Qualified charities | Exempt |
So one house in Union County, left to a sister, is taxable in New Jersey. The same house left to a daughter is not.
A credible date-of-death value matters a great deal in the first case, and it is very hard to reconstruct years after the fact.
The return is due eight months after the date of death. That is earlier than the federal nine-month deadline, and it is usually the date that drives the timing of the appraisal.
Basis is the part heirs feel later
Under IRC §1014, property inherited from a decedent takes a basis equal to its fair market value at the date of death.
Say the house was bought in 1987 for $115,000 and was worth $640,000 when the owner died. The heirs’ basis is $640,000.
Sell it soon after for $650,000 and the taxable gain is $10,000 — not $535,000. That is the whole value of getting this right.
The step-up is only as good as the documentation behind it. A beneficiary who sells eight years later, with nothing in the file, is arguing for a number they cannot support.
Ordering the appraisal while the estate is open costs a fraction of reconstructing it under audit.
The alternate valuation date
An executor may elect, under IRC §2032, to value the estate six months after the date of death instead.
It is worth knowing about, and it is narrower than most people assume:
- It is available only if it reduces both the gross estate and the estate tax actually due.
- It applies to the whole estate, not to selected assets.
- It is irrevocable.
- Property sold within that six-month window is valued as of the sale.
If the estate’s accountant is considering it, say so when you order. It means two effective dates and two analyses rather than one.
What happens if the property has changed
Nothing, as far as the assignment is concerned. The effective date is in the past either way.
Estates rarely arrive tidy. The house has often been cleared out, sometimes renovated, sometimes already sold.
What changes is how condition gets established. Where the interior can no longer be observed as it was, the report relies on documented evidence — listing photographs, a home inspection, the executor’s own account.
It then discloses the extraordinary assumption it rests on. That disclosure is a requirement, not a weakness.
A report that silently assumes condition is the one that fails scrutiny.
If the property sold shortly after death, that sale is relevant evidence and gets analysed. It is not automatically the answer — particularly where it went to a family member, sold off-market, or moved under time pressure.
What you receive
A written report with a stated effective date, a fair market value conclusion, and the comparable sales relied on with the adjustments explained.
It discloses any extraordinary assumptions and carries a signed USPAP certification. Delivery is digital, to the executor, and to counsel or the accountant on written instruction.
Fee and turnaround are quoted in writing before any work begins.
If the estate has a filing deadline, say so when you call. It changes the sequencing, not the analysis.
This page describes appraisal practice. It is not legal or tax advice. Decisions about elections, filings and deadlines belong with the estate’s attorney and accountant.
New Jersey specifics
- New Jersey repealed its estate tax for deaths on or after January 1, 2018. The New Jersey transfer inheritance tax was not repealed and still applies.
- The inheritance tax is driven by who inherits, not by how large the estate is. Class A beneficiaries — spouse, civil union or domestic partner, child, stepchild, grandchild, parent, grandparent — are exempt entirely.
- Class C beneficiaries (siblings of the decedent, and a child's spouse or surviving spouse) take the first $25,000 free, then pay 11% to 16%. Class D — everyone else, including nieces, nephews and friends — pays 15% to 16%.
- The New Jersey inheritance tax return is due eight months after the date of death. The federal Form 706, where one is required, is due nine months after death.
- Because a Class D beneficiary can owe tax on a modest estate, a date-of-death appraisal is often needed in New Jersey even where the federal exclusion makes a 706 unnecessary.
What you receive
- Narrative or form report with an effective date equal to the date of death
- Fair market value conclusion supported by sales that closed around the effective date
- Statement of the extraordinary assumptions or hypothetical conditions relied on, if any
- Signed certification conforming to USPAP
- Digital delivery to the executor and, on written instruction, to counsel or the accountant
What we need from you
- Date of death
- Property address and, where available, the deed or block and lot
- Name of the executor or administrator and who is authorised to receive the report
- Access for inspection, or notice that the property has been sold or altered since the date of death
- Any known condition issues as they existed on the date of death