Inventory and appraisement

What it means

The inventory lists what the estate holds as at the date of death. The appraisement is the value put on each item, sometimes by a professional appraiser for property that has no obvious market price.

It normally covers only probate assets. Property that passed by beneficiary designation or survivorship is outside the estate and outside the inventory, though it may still matter for tax.

Deadlines are usually measured from the date the personal representative was appointed.

Why it matters

It fixes the numbers everything else is measured against: fees, taxes, shares, and whether an estate is solvent.

It is also the document beneficiaries read most carefully, and an inventory that omits something a sibling knows about is where estates become disputes.

When you are likely to meet it

• Shortly after being appointed executor or administrator.
• When a court sends a notice that an inventory is due.
• When beneficiaries ask what is in the estate.

How this varies by state

Whether an inventory is filed with the court or only given to beneficiaries, and when it is due, are set by state law.

Related terms

• AppraisalA professional opinion of what something was worth on a particular date — usually the date of death.
• Date-of-death valueWhat something was worth on the day the person died. It is the number the estate, and often the tax, is measured by.
• EstateEverything the person owned at the moment they died, treated as one thing that has to be settled.
• Estate accountingA statement of everything that came into the estate and everything that went out, presented before the estate can be closed.
• Estate saleA sale of the contents of a house, usually run by a company on commission. It is one of several ways to clear a home, and rarely the only one worth considering.
• ExecutorThe person named in a will to carry it out — once a court actually appoints them.
• Fair market valueWhat a willing buyer would pay a willing seller, neither under pressure and both knowing the facts.
• Fiduciary dutyThe obligation to act for somebody else's benefit rather than your own — and to be able to show you did.
• Firearms after a deathGuns in an estate are property with their own federal and state rules, and moving one to the wrong person can be a criminal offense rather than a paperwork error.
• Personal representativeThe neutral term for whoever is authorized to act for an estate, whether named in a will or appointed by a court.
• Probate assetSomething owned in the deceased person's name alone, with nobody named to receive it.
• Tangible personal propertyThings you can touch and move — furniture, jewellery, tools, a car, the contents of a house. Not land, and not accounts or shares.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Being an executor
• Final accounting