Date of Death Appraisal

Death in the family or a loved one can be a difficult time. When you know you were appointed executor or trustee for one of your family members, this is the time to find out about the most important requirement for familiarization is the date of death, as it must be created shortly after the death of the deceased who owns the estate.

A date of death report, also known as a “date of death valuation” is a type of real estate report that is a crucial part of estate value accounting required by the federal government. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) lists requirements related to the deceased and their estate.

These requirements must be met by the surviving spouse, executor, or another legal representative.

Depending on the state, the IRS recommends starting the probate process within 30-90 days of the date of death. The probate court appoints a legal presentational, recognized as an “executor,” for the estate of the descendants.

The first responsibility of the executor is to provide the courts and the IRS with an estimate of the “fair value” of the estate.

An executor must hire an estate appraiser to obtain a date of death appraisal to assess the fair market value of the decedent’s property at the time of death. Most appraisals calculate the value of a property at the time of appraisal to predict future sales. However, on the day the owner died, ownership officially changed hands. Sorting out in an estate can take months, but legally the property belongs to the heirs at death. The Department of Defense assesses the value received by heirs for tax purposes. This requires a valuation using historical sales and market data from the date of death to determine the property’s value as of that date, even months ago.

The date of death determines whether a state estate tax return needs to be filed with the IRS based on the value of the testator’s real estate. It is also used to calculate the amount of estate tax that may be due.