Your Role as a Judge's Appraiser
Q: "An attorney for whom I've conducted several divorce appraisals over the years mentioned that he would like to recommend me to a local District Court Judge for inclusion on the Judge's panel of approved appraisers. When a case requiring property valuation comes before the Judge, they select an appraiser from this list to prepare the appraisal.
Most of these cases involve contested divorces, where both spouses agree to accept the appraised value. The appraisal fee is paid to the court clerk by either the spouses or their attorneys, and the appraiser receives payment upon delivering the report. The attorney described this work as "no risk." It sounds like something I would like to do, but I wanted to get your opinion."
A: I believe this is a great opportunity for you. Be sure to thank the attorney for considering you and ask him to submit your name as soon as possible. However, it's important to understand that there is no such thing as "no risk" work—every assignment carries some level of risk. In this situation, you need to clarify that your client is the Judge, which is usually the case. This helps establish that you could be protected by some form of judicial immunity.
In these cases, the Judge often hires an appraiser because the divorce is so contentious that the spouses can't agree on anything. Eventually, the Judge may tell them that the only way to settle the divorce is to allow the Judge to hire an appraiser. Both spouses must agree to be bound by the appraiser’s opinion of value. Typically, one spouse will buy out the other. Once the appraiser submits the report, they receive payment, and soon after, the spouses exchange money and documents, leading to the case being settled and dismissed.
However, occasionally, someone has second thoughts. When the Judge presents the appraisal, one spouse may disagree with the valuation and refuse to go through with the deal. The Judge might remind them that backing out isn't an option since they previously signed an agreement stating they wouldn’t contest the appraisal. Yet, after seeing the report and doing their own research, they may decide to challenge the agreement, threatening to sue the appraiser and appeal any decisions made by the Judge.
This situation has arisen a few times, but I’m pleased to say that the unhappy party has never been successful. Defense counsel has consistently argued that the appraiser was hired by the Judge to provide expert assistance in resolving a dispute before the court. Therefore, the appraiser is granted immunity from prosecution and cannot be held liable to any of the parties involved.
While I can't guarantee that acting as a Judge's retained appraiser is entirely "risk-free," I can say that if a party does decide to take action against you, it should be relatively straightforward to defend yourself.
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