Valuing Your Property in a Placer County Divorce

In many Placer County divorces, the parties have items of community property that are harder to value, much less divide. Typical examples are homes, vehicles, and businesses, though it can be other assets as well. In many cases, the parties disagree over the value of community property and the only way to resolve the differences is to have the asset appraised by a neutral party. It is appropriate for each party to hire an appraiser to establish a professional opinion of the item in question. Since Placer County divorces can be expensive, it may be beneficial for the parties to hire and split the cost of a joint appraiser.

If the parties hire individual appraisers, and the values are far apart, the likely Placer County court battle will revolve around which appraiser’s analysis is more credible. The benefits of having a joint appraiser in a Placer County divorce are as follows: First, they are a good way to reduce costs. Second, if the parties can agree on an objective and knowledgeable expert, they are more likely to trust the results and therefore settle on an agreeable value. Third, they can avoid the frustration of paying their individual experts to duel in Placer County Divorce court.

Hiring a joint appraiser in Placer County divorces has drawbacks as well. First, the expert is neutral and does not take a side. Thus, each party cannot count on the expert siding with them as in a case where they had solely hired their own expert. Second, the communications of both parties with the expert are not protected by any legal privilege. Any information either party shares with the expert is available to the other side. Some Placer County divorce litigants may find this trade-off unacceptable as they wish to have an expert with whom they can share confidential information. Individual appraisers can allow for the protection of confidential information.

If you are involved in a Placer County divorce case and there are asset valuation issues, please consult with our Placer County divorce attorneys today. We offer a free half-hour consultation for interested potentials so please give us a call today.