Appraisers are impartial. We cannot buy anything that we appraise and any property that we appraise cannot be bought in our interest. This means that the appraiser’s spouse is also forbidden to buy what her/his mate has valued, This logic extends to the appraiser’s other family members, too.
But appraising is not all we do. Sometimes we lend our extensive specialized knowledge to others. This is so when we are engaged as an expert witness. As an expert we act as a third party between litigants and are literally oblivious as to the outcome of the contest. Our function in a courtroom drama is to inform the Court. We are there to educate the Judge and jury about whatever it is that we have specialized knowledge in.
To protect ourselves under these often tense circumstances a contract is drawn by the appraiser to which his/her client’s lawyer (advocate) must sign. That’s right, the lawyer is the appraiser’s client, not the litigant. An example of a good Retention Agreement can be found here.
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