Q: My mother died in May of 2022 and we're still working on probate the house was appraised at 390,000 a month later.
We're still going through probate and my brother is going to keep the house and pay me half of what it's worth once we're done. But he now says that the house is going down in value now that we're almost in November and that hopefully this gets done fast before it keeps losing value. My question is should they go by near the time she died or when this probate ends of the value of the house. Because he's talking about doing another appraisal.
A: The date that you can or should use is the date of death (DOD) date, but you can go up to 6 months after death, beyond that is usually not an acceptable date based on the IRS rules generally. The appraisal you should set the price at is within 6 months of death, otherwise each month the property decreases in value a new appraisal and lower price will be requested, thus the 0-6 month rule, in addition, if prices were going up like they were, would the same apply with respect to giving you an increased sum due to price increase, inquiring minds would want to know how exactly this would be settled or it will drag ever onward.
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