The task of settling an estate, while stressful, is very important. It’s up to you as a trustee to carry out the wishes of the deceased as quickly and with as much dignity as possible. You can count on us to act quickly and with as much sympathy to the feelings of everyone left behind.

When an estate has a transfer of ownership due to death or inheritance, it is very common for a real estate appraisal to be needed for tax purposes. Often times during the settlement process either an attorney or accountant will order an appraisal or have a family member or executor select an appraiser for the job at hand which is most often the case.

Settling an estate most often depends on an appraisal to suggest market value for the residential property in question. It is often the case that the time an appraisal is needed will deviate the date of death. In this case, a Retrospective appraisal is required. They are fairly common in estate settlement situations. These involve appraising a home based on a ‘prior date’ which is typically the owner’s date of death, hence the reason why estate appraisals are often referred to as ‘date of death’ appraisals. We assure that we are accustomed to the procedures and requirements needed by the Federal and Illinois revenue agencies to provide a retrospective appraisal that includes an effective date and market value estimate matching the exact date of death. The ethical requirements listed within the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) keeps our company to confidentiality, assuring the strongest degree of privacy for you and your loved ones.