Wasatch Range over the Salt Lake Valley, Utah

For Attorneys Estate · Family Law · Litigation · Bankruptcy

One appraiser. Direct engagement. Court‑ready paper.

This page is for counsel, not homeowners. It covers how Utah law firms engage Miner Appraisals — conflict check, intended users, URCP 26 timing, deposition availability, and firm billing — and routes you to the right work product for the matter. Independent, non-AMC, owner-operated. Utah Certified Residential Appraiser, Lic. 10948175‑CR00.

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Dan Miner · Certified Residential Appraiser · Utah Lic. 10948175‑CR00

Why firms retain us directly

Most residential appraisers work primarily through appraisal management companies, which means the appraiser your client's lender used last month cannot be engaged directly, cannot name your firm as an intended user, and cannot sit for a deposition about an assignment someone else structured. Miner Appraisals takes no AMC work. Every engagement is direct — attorney or client of record — which is what makes the report usable as evidence and the appraiser available as a witness.

The practice is deliberately owner-operated: the person who answers your intake email is the person who inspects the property, signs the certification, and takes the stand. For a firm, that means no diffusion of responsibility to cross-examine around and one phone call when the scheduling order moves.

Engagement mechanics

Conflict check — within 24 hours. Send the property address, party names, and the matter type. We check prior engagements on the property and prior work involving either party before accepting. If we have prior involvement, you hear about it before any engagement letter goes out.
Intended users named up front. The engagement letter names your firm, the client, and the tribunal as applicable. USPAP restricts who may rely on a report after delivery — establishing the right users at engagement avoids a re-engagement (and a second fee) later.
Written fee before work begins. Flat fee for the report, quoted in writing, invoiced to the firm or the client per your instruction. Testimony and deposition hours are separate, hourly, and disclosed in the engagement letter — no end-of-trial surprises.
Deadline-driven scheduling. Flag the URCP 26 disclosure date, mediation date, or trial setting at intake and the delivery date is committed in the engagement letter. Rush turnaround for scheduling-order pressure is available.
Disclosure package included. Appraiser CV, license verification, and testimony history furnished for your expert-disclosure filing on request.

Match the matter to the work product

Probate & estate administration. Date-of-death and retrospective valuations for estate inventories and Form 706 schedules — Utah Code 75-3-706 inventory support, IRC § 1014 step-up documentation.
Divorce & family law. Date-of-separation and current-value reports for mediation and trial, retained jointly or by one side.
Contested value & civil litigation. Expert-witness appraisals, rebuttal review, deposition and trial testimony — partition, diminution-in-value, non-disclosure, condemnation.
Bankruptcy. Chapter 13 cramdown and lien-strip valuations under 11 U.S.C. § 506(a), District of Utah practice.
Property tax appeal. Board of Equalization appraisals — September 15 filing deadline.
Gift & charitable transfers. Qualified appraisals for Forms 709 and 8283 with adequate-disclosure documentation.

What your paralegal needs to send

Three things start the clock: the property address, the matter type and parties, and the deadline. Useful but not required at intake: access arrangements (occupied, vacant, lockbox), any prior appraisals already in the file, and whether the report should be addressed to the firm, the client, or both. Send it through the quote form or directly to [email protected] — either way it reaches the appraiser, not an intake service.

Recurring-matter firms

Estate-planning and family-law practices that generate several valuation needs per year can hold a standing fee schedule — same pricing on every referral, no re-quoting, engagement letter templated to the firm's preferences. Ask about it in your first inquiry and it will be set up with the first engagement.

Frequently asked — by counsel

Within 24 hours of the inquiry, usually same business day. Send the property address, the parties' names, and the intended use; we check both prior engagements on the property and prior work involving either party, then send the engagement letter naming the engaging attorney and client as intended users.

Yes. Intended users are set in the engagement letter — the firm, the client, or both, and the court where applicable. Getting this right at engagement matters because USPAP restricts who may rely on the report after delivery; naming the right users up front avoids a re‑engagement later.

Yes. Flag the disclosure deadline and trial date at intake. Standard turnaround is 5–7 business days from inspection for non-litigation matters and 7–10 for litigation-grade reports; rush delivery for scheduling-order deadlines is available. The appraiser CV and testimony history are provided for the disclosure itself.

Flat report fee quoted in writing before engagement, invoiced to the firm or to the client per your instruction. Testimony and deposition time are hourly and disclosed in the engagement letter. Retainer arrangements are available for firms with recurring valuation needs — several matters per year priced on a standing fee schedule.

Yes — Miner Appraisals is owner-operated. The appraiser who takes the intake call performs the inspection, writes and signs the report, and appears at deposition or trial if needed. There is no trainee hand-off and no AMC layer between the firm and the appraiser.

Estate and probate (date-of-death and retrospective valuations, Utah Code 75-3-706 inventories, Form 706 support), divorce and family law (date-of-separation and current-value reports), civil litigation (partition, diminution-in-value, expert witness and rebuttal), bankruptcy (Chapter 13 cramdown and lien-strip under 11 U.S.C. § 506(a)), and property tax appeals to county Boards of Equalization.

Background reading for case prep

Long-form references written for counsel: retrospective appraisal methodology (effective-date mechanics for estate and litigation work), vetting an expert-witness appraiser for Utah district court (Rule 702 checklist), probate inventory valuation under Utah Code 75-3-706, date-of-separation valuation in Utah divorce, and Chapter 13 cramdown valuation. The full library is at Field notes.

Coverage

Engagements regularly across Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Summit, Wasatch, Tooele, Morgan, and Weber counties. For attorney work we travel beyond the core counties — statewide on request.