Divorce Appraisal Cost in Georgia: What Drives the Fee

If you are going through a divorce in Georgia and the house has to be divided, bought out, or sold, you will probably need to know what it is worth, and what it will cost to find out. I do not publish a set fee for divorce work, because two divorce appraisals can be very different assignments. I quote each one after I know the address, the property type, the date the value is needed as of, and who will rely on the report.

This post explains what goes into that quote, and what can add to it later.

Key Takeaways

• The appraisal and testimony are billed differently. If a case is litigated, testimony at deposition or trial has its own rate and minimum, separate from the rest of the work.
• The effective date matters. A value as of today is one analysis. A value as of a past date, or as of two dates, is more work.
• One agreed appraiser costs less than two. Two appraisals mean two fees, and possibly two different numbers to argue about.
• The side that takes the deposition pays for it. Under O.C.G.A. 9-11-26(b)(4)(A)(ii), a party that deposes the other side's testifying expert must pay the expert a reasonable fee for that time.
• Paying is not the same as being the client. The client and the named intended users are set in the engagement letter. Nobody else is either one.
• Who pays does not change the answer. Georgia law forbids an appraisal fee that depends on the value reached.

What the Fee Covers

A divorce appraisal fee pays for the whole assignment, not only the visit to the house:

1. The inspection. I inspect and measure the property myself, inside and out.
2. Research. Finding and verifying the sales that are actually comparable, which usually takes longer than the inspection.
3. Analysis. Adjusting for the differences between your house and each comparable, with the support written down.
4. The report. A narrative report written to be read by two people who disagree, and by a judge if it comes to that.

What Drives the Cost

The property. A typical house in a subdivision with plenty of recent similar sales is the simplest case. Acreage, a custom home, a property with outbuildings, or a house with few true comparables takes more research and more support for each adjustment.

The effective date. The date the value is measured as of is usually decided by the parties, their attorneys, or the court, not by me. A current value uses current sales. A past date makes it a retrospective assignment, which means reconstructing the market as it stood on that date. Some cases need a value at more than one date, which is more than one analysis. The date has to be settled before I begin, because changing it later is not an edit. It is a new assignment. For how the date and the division work in a Georgia case, see how a home is valued and divided in a Georgia divorce.

How many properties. A lake lot, a rental, or land in another county each needs its own appraisal.

One appraiser or two. When both sides agree on one neutral appraiser, there is one fee and one number. When each side hires its own, there are two fees, and the two values can differ, which can make a settlement harder rather than easier.

A review instead of a new appraisal. If the other side already has an appraisal you believe is wrong, a review of that report may answer your question for less than a new appraisal would. A review tells you whether the work holds together. It will not simply give you a number you prefer.

Litigation. If the case is contested and I may be deposed or called to testify, the assignment is billed on my litigation terms, described below.

Why Two Quotes Are Not Always for the Same Work

Quotes for the same address can be quotes for two different pieces of work, and the difference does not show on the quote. Two things separate them.

The first is what you are handed at the end. One kind of report is a form with boxes checked and a conclusion at the bottom. The other is a narrative report that shows its reasoning, sale by sale and adjustment by adjustment, so your attorney, your spouse's attorney, and a judge can follow how the number was reached instead of taking it on faith. Only one of those is built to be argued over.

The second, and it is the larger difference by a wide margin, is who built it. That is not visible at all from a price, so ask. Ask whether the appraiser has done divorce assignments and how many. Ask whether they have been deposed or testified. Ask whether they will personally perform the inspection. Ask what the effective date of value will be and why. And ask whether the fee depends in any way on the outcome, which should draw an immediate no.

Put the same questions to me, then go check the answers. I have been in the field since 1997 and licensed as an appraiser since 2000. I have sat in nearly every seat that ever reads an appraisal: field appraiser, review appraiser, Chief Review Appraiser at Act Appraisal and at eValuation ZONE, both national appraisal management companies, where I was the final technical authority on disputed values and on the complex, high-risk, and unusual files. I built and ran a wholesale appraisal desk at 1,700 orders a year, ran appraisal management operations, performed FHA field audits, and have worked as an expert in litigation. Georgia classifications are searchable through the Georgia Real Estate Commission and Appraisers Board, and every certified appraiser in the country is listed on the ASC National Registry, free and public. Look me up. Look up anyone else you are weighing.

The last part you can only see in person: I talk with the owner at the property rather than taking photographs and leaving. You should finish that visit understanding what I was looking at and why it moves the number.

How Long It Takes

A straightforward current-value report is delivered 24 to 48 hours after the inspection. Estate, retrospective and as-repaired work, and any complex assignment such as acreage, divorce, litigation or thin comparable data, runs 7 to 14 business days. I state the timeline when I quote the assignment. If you have a hearing or mediation date, tell me when you call, so the timeline is set against it from the start.

Who Pays for the Appraisal

Either spouse, both jointly, or an attorney can engage me. The payment arrangement varies: sometimes the fee is split, sometimes one side pays and it is accounted for in the settlement, and sometimes counsel engages me and bills it through. What matters is that the engagement is settled in writing before I start, because it determines who my client is and who can rely on the report.

None of that reaches the conclusion. Under O.C.G.A. 43-39A-18(11), accepting an assignment that depends on reporting a predetermined value, or a fee that depends on the value reached, is grounds for discipline in Georgia. If you need the number to come out a particular way, I am the wrong appraiser.

Who the Client Is, and Why Paying Does Not Change It

An appraisal has a client, and it has named intended users. Nobody else. Your spouse is not one of them, and neither is your spouse's attorney. That is settled on the engagement letter before I start, and it does not move afterward.

The Civil Practice Act makes the side taking my deposition pay for the time I spend responding to that discovery, under O.C.G.A. 9-11-26(b)(4)(A)(ii). That is a discovery cost rule and nothing more. Paying for deposition time does not make that side my client, does not create a duty to them, and does not give them the right to rely on my report. They are paying for access to a witness, not buying an appraisal.

Trial testimony is not discovery, so no statute reaches it. It falls where the engagement puts it, which is on my client.

The same principle runs in the other direction. When a third party funds the fee, a parent helping with costs, say, or counsel billing it through, the engagement still names who the client is, and the duty still runs to the client and the named intended users only.

It is worth stating plainly, because it is also the independence answer. Who signs the check never reaches the conclusion.

If the Case Goes to Litigation

Two different things decide who pays for an appraiser's time in a contested divorce: the law, and the engagement agreement. They are worth keeping apart.

What the law says

Georgia's Civil Practice Act governs discovery in civil cases, divorce included. Under O.C.G.A. 9-11-26(b)(4)(A)(ii), when one side takes discovery from an expert the other side expects to call at trial, the side taking it must pay the expert a reasonable fee for the time spent responding. If the fee is disputed, the court decides what is reasonable.

So if your spouse's attorney deposes the appraiser you retained, your spouse's side pays for that deposition time. The statute covers discovery. It does not cover preparation with your own attorney, and it does not cover testimony at trial.

How I bill it

These are my engagement terms, not requirements of law:

• Engagement fee. A non-refundable engagement fee, with a not-to-exceed cap, is due before any work begins and before I can be named as a testifying or non-testifying expert.
• One hourly rate for non-testimony work. Analysis, report preparation, deposition preparation, and travel on any day that is not a testimony day, such as an inspection trip, a document production, or a second visit to the property.
• A separate testimony rate. At deposition or trial, with a three-hour minimum and half-hour increments after that. It runs while I am waiting, on a break, or at a meal. On a deposition or trial day the default is door to door at the testimony rate, because a day given to a case is a day whether it is spent testifying or waiting to testify.
• Travel is settled in the engagement. Those are the defaults, not a fixed rule, because travel turns on where things actually happen: whose office the deposition is taken in, which courthouse, how far. We set the treatment in writing before any work starts.
• Who pays which part. The deposing side pays for my testimony time at its deposition. My client covers preparation and anything the other side does not pay.
• Weekly invoices. Litigation files are invoiced weekly.

Do You Need an Appraisal at All?

Not necessarily. Georgia law does not limit value testimony to appraisers. Under O.C.G.A. 24-7-701(b), a witness does not need to be an expert to testify to value if he or she has had an opportunity to form a reasoned opinion, and the appraiser licensing law expressly allows an owner or an owner's spouse to express an opinion of the property's value. You can testify to what you think your house is worth.

The reason to pay for an appraisal is that your opinion, or your spouse's, is exactly what the other side expects to hear. A neutral report that shows its sales, its adjustments, and its reasoning is harder to dismiss, and it can end the argument about the number so the negotiation can move on to the division.

How to Keep the Cost Down

• Agree on one appraiser if you can. It is the single biggest saving.
• Settle the effective date first. Ask your attorneys before the assignment starts, not after the report is delivered.
• Gather the facts. A list of improvements with approximate dates, any survey or plat, and anything unusual about the property shortens the research.
• Say early if testimony is likely. It tells me whether the file needs litigation terms from the start.

My divorce and equitable distribution page explains how I take on these assignments.

FAQs: Divorce Appraisal Cost

Do we each need our own appraisal?

No. One appraiser engaged by both sides is cheaper and faster, and produces one number instead of two. Separate appraisals make sense when the parties cannot agree on someone neutral, or one side has already hired an appraiser.

How long does a divorce appraisal take?

A straightforward current-value report is delivered 24 to 48 hours after the inspection. Estate, retrospective and as-repaired work, and any complex assignment such as acreage, divorce, litigation or thin comparable data, runs 7 to 14 business days. I state the timeline when I quote the assignment.

Does the appraisal fee include going to court?

No. Testimony at deposition or trial is billed at a separate testimony rate, with a three-hour minimum, under an engagement agreement made before any work begins.

If my spouse's attorney deposes our appraiser, who pays?

Under O.C.G.A. 9-11-26(b)(4)(A)(ii), the side that takes the deposition of the other side's testifying expert pays the expert a reasonable fee for the time spent responding. The court resolves any dispute over what is reasonable. Paying for that time does not make that side my client, and it does not give them the right to rely on my report.

Does it matter which of us pays?

Not to the value. The engagement decides who my client is, but my fee cannot depend on the number, and the conclusion is the same whoever writes the check.

Is travel billed?

Yes, and how depends on the day. On a deposition or trial day, the default is door to door at the testimony rate. Travel on any other day, such as an inspection trip or a second visit, is at the hourly rate. The treatment is settled in the engagement before work starts, because it turns on where things happen and how far.

About the Author

Scott D.W. Wiley is a Georgia Certified Residential Real Property Appraiser, CR432840, and is FHA approved. He was formerly licensed in six other states: Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Ohio, all now inactive. He has been in the business since 1997 and licensed as an appraiser since 2000, coming up through the Midwest as a field appraiser and then as a review appraiser, and serving as Chief Review Appraiser at Act Appraisal and at eValuation ZONE, both national appraisal management companies, where he was the final technical authority on disputed values and on complex, high-risk, and unusual property. He also built and ran a wholesale appraisal desk at 1,700 orders a year, ran appraisal management operations, performed FHA field audits, and works as an expert in litigation. Today he runs Go2Appraiser, serving metro Atlanta and Northwest Georgia with estate, divorce, bankruptcy, tax appeal, pre-listing, land, and investment property valuations. He inspects every property personally and writes his reports the way he spent his career demanding other appraisers write theirs.