{"id":3045,"date":"2017-11-07T11:32:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T16:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/?p=3045"},"modified":"2025-12-31T14:29:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T19:29:19","slug":"disposition-estate-assets-real-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/disposition-estate-assets-real-estate.html","title":{"rendered":"Disposition of Estate Assets \u2013 Real Estate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Real estate is oftentimes one of the more valuable assets an individual may own, and thus can comprise a substantial asset in the estate following an individual\u2019s death. Typically, it is the personal representative of the estate who has responsibility to dispose of a decedent\u2019s real estate.<sup>1<\/sup> Real estate can either be conveyed directly to one or more of the estate beneficiaries or it can be sold. The disposition of real estate in an estate can be one of the more significant responsibilities for the personal representative. This article will address a number of issues facing a personal representative involved in the disposition of real estate through sale of the property following an owner\u2019s death.<sup>2<\/sup><\/p>\n<p>The first issue generally faced by a personal representative is determining the fair market value of the property. For purposes of the federal estate tax law, fair market value is defined as \u201cthe price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts.\u201d Treas. Reg. \u00a72031-1(b). For New Jersey estate and inheritance tax purposes, tax is \u201ccomputed upon the clear market value of the property transferred.\u201d N.J.S. 54:34\u20135. <em>See also<\/em> N.J.A.C. 18:26\u20138.10. In general, an appraisal of real estate prepared by a member of the Appraisal Institute will be recognized as an acceptable appraisal by taxing authorities.<sup>3<\/sup>\u00a0 An arms-length purchase by an unrelated third party, if completed within a reasonable time period after death, is generally accepted by the taxing authorities as an alternative to an appraisal.<\/p>\n<p>The actual process of selling real property owned by an estate can also present challenges to a personal representative. Oftentimes a personal representative will wish to minimize the expenditure of funds to \u201cupdate\u201d an estate property, preferring instead to enter into a contract selling the property in \u201cas is\u201d condition without addressing any repair issues. While this is often an attractive approach, particularly when a personal representative has never resided in the property or has limited or no knowledge concerning its condition, there are limitations to this approach in New Jersey, which a recent case points out.<\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/disposition-estate-assets-real-estate.html\"  title=\"Continue Reading Disposition of Estate Assets \u2013 Real Estate\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Real estate is oftentimes one of the more valuable assets an individual may own, and thus can comprise a substantial asset in the estate following an individual\u2019s death. Typically, it is the personal representative of the estate who has responsibility to dispose of a decedent\u2019s real estate.1 Real estate can either be conveyed directly to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,343],"tags":[],"coauthors":[139],"class_list":["post-3045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insights","category-wills-trusts-estates-insights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Disposition of Estate Assets \u2013 Real Estate &#8212; November 7, 2017 &#8212; Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. 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Firm News &amp; Events","article_published_time":"2017-11-07T16:32:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-31T19:29:19+00:00","author":"Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C.","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C.","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/disposition-estate-assets-real-estate.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/disposition-estate-assets-real-estate.html"},"author":{"name":"Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C.","@id":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/#\/schema\/person\/429b3bd6b52a7aa6eb9a0709bbb4d06f"},"headline":"Disposition of Estate Assets \u2013 Real Estate","datePublished":"2017-11-07T16:32:05+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-31T19:29:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/disposition-estate-assets-real-estate.html"},"wordCount":1438,"articleSection":["Insights","Wills, Trusts &amp; Estates"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/disposition-estate-assets-real-estate.html","url":"https:\/\/www.lindabury.com\/firm\/insights\/disposition-estate-assets-real-estate.html","name":"Disposition of Estate Assets \u2013 Real Estate &#8212; November 7, 2017 &#8212; Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook &amp; Cooper, P.C. 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