Utah date-of-death appraisals — what executors actually need to know

A son in Salt Lake City is named personal representative for his late mother's estate. The Letters Testamentary arrive in late August. The attorney sends a thoughtful welcome packet — estate account setup, creditor notice procedures, the inventory checklist. Buried in the inventory checklist, halfway down the second page, are seven words: obtain qualified appraisal for real property. The son reads it, nods, sets it aside, and forgets. Three months later the inventory is due, the house in Sugar House still has no value documented, and he is on the phone scrambling for an appraiser two weeks before the court deadline.

This is the most common single procedural failure in Utah probate. Not because executors are careless — most are conscientious, thoughtful, and grieving. But because nobody walks them through the calendar math, and the appraisal is one of those administrative tasks that feels optional until suddenly it isn't.

Below is the procedural guide a new Utah personal representative should have on day one — why the date-of-death value actually matters, the calendar pressure built into Utah Code 75-3-706, when the alternate valuation date helps, what a qualified appraisal actually contains, and how to tell a competent appraiser from a problematic one. Nothing here is legal advice — that belongs to your probate attorney. This is the appraiser's piece of the file.

Why the date-of-death value matters more than people think

The appraisal does three different jobs at once, and skipping it because one of them seems irrelevant is the most expensive shortcut in estate administration.

Job 1 — Stepped-up basis under IRC § 1014. When a person dies, the cost basis of their real estate resets to fair market value as of the date of death. The heirs inherit this stepped-up basis. When the heirs later sell the property, capital gains are calculated against the stepped-up basis, not the decedent's original purchase price. A house purchased in 1985 for $90,000 and worth $650,000 at death gives the heirs a stepped-up basis of $650,000 — if they sell for $670,000 a year later, their taxable gain is $20,000, not $580,000. The appraisal is the documentation of that $650,000 basis. Without a contemporaneous appraisal, the IRS gets to argue the basis at audit time using whatever evidence is available — often less favorable than what an appraisal would have established.

Job 2 — Estate inventory under Utah Code 75-3-706. The personal representative must file an inventory with the court within three months of appointment, listing each asset of the estate at fair market value. Real estate is almost always the biggest single line item. A USPAP-compliant qualified appraisal is the defensible documentation. Personal-representative liability under Utah Code 75-3-712 attaches to the accuracy of the inventory — get the value wrong and the personal representative is exposed if an heir later contests the distribution.

Job 3 — Form 706 federal estate tax (when applicable). The federal estate-tax exemption is $13.99 million per individual in 2025, so most Utah estates do not file Form 706. But when a 706 is required, the IRS demands a qualified appraisal — a USPAP-compliant report by a state-certified appraiser — for any real estate listed on the return. The appraisal stays in the estate file; the value flows to Schedule A of the 706.

Even if Job 3 doesn't apply, Jobs 1 and 2 almost always do. The appraisal is rarely truly optional.

The 4-month Utah inventory deadline (and why it's actually three)

Utah Code 75-3-706 gives the personal representative three months from the date of appointment to prepare and file the inventory with the court. The clock starts running on the date Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration are issued — not the date of death, not the date the will was filed. For most estates that means the inventory is due roughly four months after death (one month from death to appointment plus three months from appointment to inventory), but the controlling deadline is the three-month appointment-to-inventory window.

Working backward from the inventory deadline to the appraiser's calendar:

• Day 1 to Day 14 — get appointed, open the estate account. Attorney work, mostly. Once Letters Testamentary are in hand, contact appraiser to scope the work and confirm fee.
• Day 15 to Day 30 — schedule the inspection. One to two hours on site. Appraiser photographs interior and exterior, measures the structure (ANSI Z765 standards), notes condition. The inspection date doesn't have to equal the effective date — the appraiser uses the date of death as effective date regardless of when they walk through.
• Day 30 to Day 60 — report production. Comparable-sales research as of the date of death, adjustment grid, narrative, certifications. Standard turnaround is 5 to 10 business days from inspection.
• Day 60 to Day 75 — review with attorney and CPA. Value gets reviewed in the context of the estate's overall planning. If there's a basis-step-up question, partial-interest valuation, or 706 strategy, this is when it comes up.
• Day 75 to Day 90 — inventory filed with the court. Real estate listed at the appraised value with the appraisal in the estate file as supporting documentation.

Start the appraiser engagement in the first month and the calendar has slack for the inevitable hiccups — vacant property access, attorney availability, weather. Wait until month two and you're rushing. Wait until month three and you are paying rush fees AND praying nothing goes wrong.

Date of death vs. alternate valuation date — when six months later helps

For most Utah estates, this section is moot — the federal exemption is high enough that no 706 is filed and the alternate valuation date never comes up. But for estates that DO file a 706, the election under IRC § 2032 is one of the most consequential decisions on the return.

The default rule: assets are valued at the date of death. The alternate election: the executor may elect to value the estate's assets at six months after the date of death instead, but only if both conditions are met: (1) the alternate-date value is lower than the date-of-death value, AND (2) electing the alternate date reduces the federal estate tax owed. Both conditions must be true — you cannot cherry-pick assets, and you cannot elect the alternate date just to lock in a lower step-up basis for the heirs.

The election applies to the entire estate, not asset-by-asset. So if real estate dropped 15% between death and the alternate date but the decedent's brokerage account rose 5%, the executor evaluates the net effect across the whole estate.

From an appraiser's perspective, electing the alternate date means two qualified appraisals are required — one as of the date of death, one as of the alternate date. Both must be USPAP-compliant retrospective valuations (even the alternate-date appraisal becomes retrospective once filing happens later). Both should be commissioned together so the appraiser can do the comparable-sales research efficiently. Cost is roughly 1.5x a single appraisal — not 2x — because the property data and the methodology carry across.

When the election is on the table, talk to the appraiser early. The retrospective work for both dates is harder if commissioned a year later than if commissioned within the planning window.

What a USPAP-compliant retrospective report actually contains

The qualified-appraisal standard that IRS auditors and probate-court reviewers apply isn't subjective. The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) sets out what the report must include, and a retrospective appraisal (one valued as of a past date) has additional disclosure requirements beyond a current-date report.

What the executor receives:

• Subject property description. Address, legal description, year built, gross living area (per ANSI Z765 measurement), bedroom and bathroom count, lot size, property class, and condition rating as of the effective date.
• Effective date statement. The date of death, clearly identified as the effective date of the value opinion. The report-issue date will be later (when the appraiser signs the certification), and both dates are disclosed.
• Highest and best use analysis. What use the property was best suited for as of the effective date. For most residential properties this is one-paragraph routine (continued residential use), but for unique or transitional properties it can be substantial.
• Sales comparison approach. Three to six comparable sales that closed BEFORE the effective date, with adjustments for differences in size, condition, location, lot, and time. Comparable sales after the effective date are NOT used in a retrospective report — the appraiser uses only data that would have been knowable as of the effective date.
• Reconciliation and final value opinion. The weighted conclusion across approaches, expressed as a single point value (not a range) at the effective date.
• Appraiser's certification and signature. Signed declaration of independence, no contingent fee, no excluded-party relationship, USPAP compliance, and the appraiser's state license credentials.
• Limiting conditions and assumptions. Standard USPAP disclosures plus any retrospective-specific disclosures about condition assumptions, since the appraiser is assessing condition that existed in the past.

A retrospective report is harder than a current-date report — not easier — because the comparable-sales dataset is fixed in the past, condition has to be reconstructed from photos or records, and the market-conditions adjustment requires knowing what the local market did between the effective date and now. Anyone selling you a cheap "retrospective" appraisal at a current-date price is probably not doing the work properly.

For more on retrospective methodology and why it matters in legal-stakes contexts, see what attorneys should know about retrospective appraisals.

How to vet a Utah appraiser — three things to check

The Utah Division of Real Estate maintains a public license lookup at secure.utah.gov/llv/search. Before engaging any appraiser, confirm three things:

1. Credential level. Utah issues three appraiser credentials: Trainee, Licensed Residential, and Certified Residential. For estate work on 1-4 unit residential property, Certified Residential is the appropriate level. The credential number includes "CR" for Certified Residential. Trainees cannot sign reports independently. Licensed Residential appraisers are limited to non-complex 1-4 unit properties under specific value thresholds — many estate properties fall outside their scope.

2. Non-AMC, direct engagement. Most lender appraisals route through Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs) that take a cut of the fee and limit the appraiser's communication with the client. For estate work, you want direct engagement — the appraiser you hire is the appraiser who inspects the property, signs the report, and is available to discuss findings with you, your attorney, or your CPA. Ask explicitly: "Are you the appraiser who will inspect, write, and sign the report?" If the answer involves "we" or "our team," keep looking.

3. Experience with retrospective and probate work. A residential appraiser whose entire career is mortgage-refi work may not have done a retrospective valuation in years. Estate work needs an appraiser fluent in qualified-appraisal standards, IRS audit defense, and probate-court reporting conventions. Ask: "How many estate appraisals did you do last year? Have you ever had one challenged by the IRS or contested in probate?" The answer should be specific, not vague.

Coverage by county matters too — appraiser comparable-sales expertise is geographically specific. An appraiser based in St. George doing a Park City estate is going to be slower and probably less accurate than a Wasatch-Front-based appraiser doing local work. For estate cases concentrated along the Wasatch Front, see Salt Lake County, Utah County, Summit County, and Wasatch County coverage pages.

The service that anchors this work

The service home for executor and probate appraisal work is the estate, probate & date-of-death appraisals service page — that's where the methodology, fees, and turnaround details live. For the lifetime-gift counterpart (real estate gifted before death rather than transferred at death), see Form 709 gift tax appraisals. For charitable real-estate donations to organizations like the LDS Foundation or University of Utah, see Form 8283 real estate appraisals. For the advanced HNW structures (GRATs, IDGTs, family LPs), see GRATs, IDGTs, and family LPs.

Three months sounds like a long time. It isn't. Call the appraiser in week two.

Frequently asked

Related reading

For the methodology side of retrospective work, see what attorneys should know about retrospective appraisals. For the gift-side counterpart (lifetime gifts before death), see Form 709 gift tax appraisals — what Utah year-end gifts actually need. For charitable donations of inherited real estate, see Form 8283 real estate appraisals. For high-net-worth estate-planning structures (GRATs, IDGTs, family LPs), see GRATs, IDGTs, and family LPs. The service home for executor work is the estate, probate & date-of-death appraisals service page.

The deadline is the inventory date. Everything else flows from that.