FAQ

When getting assets valued for family law matters, the documents produced by the valuer must be in the format required by the Federal Circuit and Family Law Court of Australia. Theinspection must be conducted by a person who can demonstrate that he/she is qualified to act asan expert witness in court. There are many experts in various fields, most aren’t certified valuers. Because a valuer cannot be an expert in every case he may contract the services of an expert/s invarious fields and work in collaboration with them. The valuer would then compile, edit andproduce the finished report. In this way, a valuation report can include all the assets in one document saving time and money.

Probate matters are invariably sad times for estate beneficiaries. Many times, a valuation will be required to ascertain the worth of the deceased’s assets. He may have died intestate, there may be a dispute on the value of an asset, or a value may need to be placed on an asset offered for sale by the estate. These valuations must be in the correct format and be admissible as evidence in court if needed.

Agreed valuations are generally performed when an insurer or insured requires an independent valuation of an asset where a client has specified that such asset has more value than ascertained by reference to a price guide for whatever reason, modification, rarity, added equipment or modification for a specific purpose etc.

Agreed value is insuring your asset/s for the value you want to be paid in the case it is written off or stolen and unrecovered. This is a reasonable, fixed sum that you have agreed with your insurance provider.

When a company or individual decides to liquidate assets differing types of valuations can be applied, the type of valuation needed can be determined by a certificated valuer.

Many assets have to be valued when finance is being negotiated. Ther asset must be deemed to be what it is, positively identified, and a market valuation is the one generally applied here.

When a company agrees to sell an asset to an employee or an employee agrees to sell an asset to his employer, an independent valuation conducted by a certified valuer should be sought. For example, trucks quite often change hands in this way.

Sometimes an offer for compensation for damage to an asset by an insurance company may seem insufficient. A pre incident valuation is the determination of the value of an asset before an incident has taken place. The incident may be by way of an accident, tempest, flood, theft, or any other cause of loss of market value. Where an assessor has performed a valuation unless he is a certified valuer his evidence can only be an appraisal and would not hold water if in conflict with a certified valuer. You don’t have to agree with your insurance company, and you have every right to put forward evidence that disputes their assessment. Most times the insurance companies get it right, we would have a look at their offer and then advise if we think we can help.

The importation of used vehicles, boats and equipment will generally incur a government stamp duty charge. The parameters for this type of valuation are specialised and so with imported assets already in the country. Imported vehicles must comply with Australian standards but will probably not have a market value as great as Australian standard complied vehicles imported new.

Generally, an appraisal of the realisable value at landed cost on the wharf needs to be obtained by the importer provided by an expert valuer who will not take into account any modification charges, fee, taxes or duty on the vehicle. Various other factors are taken into account as where a vehicle is imported at a fraction of the cost of available vehicles in Australia or conversely where there may be a ‘grey import stigma’ on the vehicle. The importation of used vehicles, boats and equipment will generally incur a government stamp duty charge the amount of this charge will be determined by the valuer’s report. The parameters for this type of valuation are specialised and so with imported assets already in the country (imported cars nearly always carry an import stigma and are known as grey imports, these will generally have a lesser market value than cars that have been manufactured to comply when manufactured).