Why an agent's appraisal will not do
Family law proceedings require evidence, not opinion. An appraisal from an agent hoping to win the eventual listing is neither independent nor documented, and carries no professional liability. Courts and experienced solicitors discount it accordingly.
A valuation from a registered valuer is admissible, is subject to the valuer's professional and ethical obligations, and can be tested by cross-examination. That testability is precisely why it carries weight.
Single expert versus competing experts
Where both parties agree, a single valuer is appointed jointly and provides one report to both. This is the approach most solicitors and courts prefer: it costs one fee rather than two, it removes the incentive to shop for a favourable number, and it usually narrows the dispute immediately.
Where each party engages a separate valuer, the result is two reports, two fees and often a third process to reconcile them. That is sometimes unavoidable — where the property is unusual, where there is a genuine methodological disagreement, or where one party will not agree to a joint appointment — but it should be a considered choice, not the default.
The effective date matters
Family law matters can run for a long time, and property values move. The relevant date is usually as close as possible to the hearing or the agreement, not the date of separation — but that is a legal question for your solicitor, not a valuation question.
Where a matter is prolonged, an updated valuation may be required. Tell us if that is likely: an update by the original valuer is considerably less expensive than a fresh engagement, because the research base already exists.
What we assess and what we do not
We assess the market value of the real property: land, dwelling, improvements, condition, zoning and comparable evidence. We do not determine contributions, adjustments for post-separation payments, or how the asset pool should be divided. Those are legal and accounting matters.
Where a property has features that cut both ways — subdivision potential, an unapproved structure, a granny flat, a partially completed renovation — we identify and value them explicitly, because these are the items that generate argument if left implicit.
Confidentiality and conduct
A jointly appointed valuer communicates with both parties or their solicitors, not one side privately. Access arrangements, requests for information and the report itself go to both. That symmetry is not a formality; it is what preserves the report's independence.
If you engage us for one party only, we still owe an independent professional duty. We will not adjust a figure to suit an instruction, and we will say so plainly at the outset. A valuer who would do otherwise is not one you want in a witness box.
Practical preparation
Provide access to the whole property, including any locked rooms, sheds and secondary dwellings. Provide council approvals and plans, particularly for any structure added or altered. If the property is tenanted, provide the lease and rental statements.
If both parties have information the other lacks — a renovation quote, a building report, a prior valuation — disclose it. Withheld information tends to surface later, and when it does it undermines the party who withheld it far more than the figure it was meant to influence.