Date-of-Death Home Value in Florida: What Estates Need
A date-of-death value is an opinion of what a property was worth on the day its owner died, and it exists for the estate's accountant, not for the sale. It is a separate number from what the home would sell for today, it is built only from sales that closed before that date, and getting it on paper early is far easier than reconstructing it years later.
Almost every personal representative we work with in Palm Beach County meets this request the same way: the CPA asks for the property's value as of the date of death, and nobody has explained what that means or where it comes from. This article covers the real-estate side of that question.
By Gia Freer, Broker of Record, PBP Real Estate, licensed in Florida since 2000 and a Certified Probate Expert.
This is general information about the real estate process, not legal or tax advice. Whether your estate needs one of these, and what form it must take, is a question for your CPA and your Florida probate attorney.
Why the accountant asks for it
When a property passes through an estate, its cost basis generally resets to its value on the date of death. That reset is what the tax world calls a stepped-up basis.
The practical effect is simple. If the estate later sells the property, the gain or loss is measured against that date-of-death figure rather than against whatever the deceased originally paid decades ago. A home bought in 1994 and inherited in 2026 has an enormous difference between those two numbers.
Without a defensible date-of-death figure, the estate has nothing to measure against. That is why the CPA asks early, and it is why the request often lands on the family before anyone has decided whether to sell at all.
It is not the same as today's price
This is where families get confused, and where bad advice does real damage.
The date-of-death figure is historical. It is fixed to one day, and it is supported by sales that closed before that day. If the owner died in February, the analysis lives in the market as it stood in February.
What the home would sell for today is a different question with a different answer. Probate takes months. Markets move in months. The house may have sat empty, the roof may have aged another season, the neighbor may have closed at a number nobody expected.
Both numbers are legitimate. They answer different questions and they should never be blended into one figure to make paperwork easier.
How the analysis is actually built
The method is the same discipline used for any serious opinion of value, with one change: the effective date moves backward.
- The date of death is treated as today. Everything in the analysis is anchored to that day.
- Comparable closings come from the six to twelve months before that date. Sales that closed afterward are excluded, however convenient they may be.
- Houses stay with houses, condos stay with condos. Blending the two hides exactly the thing the estate needs to see.
- Condition is stated, not assumed. A property that had not been updated in twenty years is not comparable to a renovated one down the street, and the write-up says so in plain language.
- Every comparable carries its MLS number so the CPA or the attorney can check the work rather than take it on faith.
- The effective date appears on the face of the document so nobody mistakes it for the date it was prepared.
What comes back is a written document with the sales it rests on attached. Not a number in an email.
Broker opinion or formal appraisal
Both exist and they are not interchangeable.
A licensed broker can prepare a written opinion of value supported by comparable closings. A state-licensed appraiser can prepare a formal appraisal report, which is a regulated work product with its own standards.
Which one an estate needs depends on the size of the estate, what has to be filed, and how much scrutiny the figure is likely to face. That determination belongs to the CPA and the probate attorney. We have seen families spend money on the wrong one because nobody asked first.
What we can say from the real-estate side: whichever route the estate takes, the document should show its work. A figure with no supporting sales and no stated effective date is not usable by anyone.
Do it early
The single most common avoidable problem is delay.
Establishing a date-of-death figure within a few months is straightforward. The market data is fresh, the property's condition is still observable, and photographs exist. Establishing one four years later means reconstructing a market from records alone and guessing at a condition nobody documented.
If the family has interior photographs from around the time of death, keep them. They are frequently the only evidence of condition anyone will ever have.
Where we fit
PBP Real Estate handles the real-estate side of estates across probate and inherited property in South Florida, working alongside the estate's attorney and accountant rather than in place of them. We prepare written opinions of value by hand, with the sales attached, and we do not publish instant online estimates for anyone. If the estate is also weighing a sale, you can start with what your home is worth today, prepared by hand rather than by software.
If you are the personal representative of a Florida estate and you have been asked for a date-of-death figure, that is a conversation worth having before the sale question is even on the table. Once the estate turns to selling, our guide to selling an inherited house in Palm Beach County covers the steps that follow.
PBP Real Estate, LLC, Boca Raton. 561-395-8418.
Date-of-death value questions
What is a date-of-death value?
It is an opinion of what a property was worth on the day the owner died, rather than what it is worth today. It is built from sales that closed in the months before that date, not from anything that sold afterward. The estate's accountant generally uses it to establish the stepped-up cost basis, which is what a capital gain or loss is measured against when the property is later sold.
Is that the same number as what the home will sell for now?
Usually not, and it is not supposed to be. One is a historical figure tied to a fixed date. The other is what today's buyers will pay in today's condition. Months can pass between the date of death and the sale, and the market moves in that time. Expect two different numbers and do not let anyone merge them.
Who can prepare one?
A licensed real estate broker can prepare a written opinion of value with the comparable closings attached. A state-licensed appraiser can prepare a formal appraisal report. Which one the estate needs is a question for the estate's CPA and probate attorney, because the answer depends on the size of the estate and what has to be filed. Ask them before commissioning anything.
How far back do the comparable sales go?
We pull closings from the six to twelve months before the date of death. Sales that closed after the date of death are excluded, even when they are the most convenient ones available, because they reflect a market the owner never lived to see.
What if the death was several years ago?
It can still be done, and it is harder. Photographs of the property's condition at the time, if the family has any, become valuable. Reconstructing a historical value years later takes more work and rests on thinner evidence, which is why establishing it early is worth the trouble.
Does the property have to be sold to get one?
No. The date-of-death figure is independent of whether or when the estate sells. Some families need it purely for the accountant and keep the property.