Divorce Appraisals in Los Angeles: Commercial and Investment Property in a Marital Estate

Many Los Angeles marital estates hold more than a house. A 1960s apartment building in Koreatown or Van Nuys, a small industrial building in Carson or Gardena, a storefront with units above in Highland Park, medical office in Torrance, a warehouse in Commerce, or a lot in Altadena that burned in January 2025. In a divorce, the value of each one drives who keeps what and how much one spouse pays the other. Our statewide guide to divorce appraisals of commercial property covers the Family Code basics in depth. This page covers what is different when the property is in Los Angeles County.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Talk to your attorney or CPA about your case.

Where is a Los Angeles divorce filed, and who orders the appraisal?

Los Angeles Superior Court Local Rule 2.3 lets a family law case be filed in the Central District, at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 North Hill Street, or in the district where one or more of the parties reside. The court’s family law departments directory lists family law departments at Stanley Mosk and at district courthouses such as Van Nuys, Chatsworth, Pasadena, Long Beach, Torrance, Santa Monica, Compton, Pomona, Whittier and Lancaster. Your attorney chooses the courthouse.

The court does not order the appraisal for you. It is usually ordered in one of three ways:

• By one spouse’s attorney, to value the property for negotiation, mediation or trial.
• Jointly by both sides, as a neutral appraiser both attorneys agree on, which can save the cost of dueling reports.
• By a CPA or forensic accountant working on the case, who needs real estate values to build the balance sheet and the tax picture.

Our opinion of value is the same no matter who orders the report. We never pick a number to help one side, and our fee is never tied to the appraised value.

What valuation dates does a Los Angeles divorce appraisal need?

Under Family Code Section 2552, the court values community assets as near as practicable to the time of trial. On 30 days’ notice and for good cause, the court may value all or part of the assets at a date after separation and before trial instead. Spouses who settle can agree on their own date.

A date of separation value can matter too. Family Code Section 70 defines that date, and it is the attorneys’ call. Once it is set, a retrospective appraisal values the property as of that past date with the sales, leases and market conditions from that time. That can be needed when one spouse ran a building alone after the split, when value rose or fell after separation, or when separate property money went into a community building and reimbursement under Family Code Section 2640 is in play.

In Los Angeles, two dates can describe two very different properties. A building can be retrofitted, re-tenanted or burned between separation and trial. Tell us every date in play before the work starts so each value is supported on its own.

What Los Angeles issues change a divorce appraisal?

• The Rent Stabilization Ordinance. In the City of Los Angeles, the RSO generally applies to rental property first built on or before October 1, 1978, plus some replacement units built after July 15, 2007, and the Los Angeles Housing Department says it covers approximately 624,000 units. Most other rental housing in the city falls under the city’s Just Cause Ordinance, other cities in the county have their own rules, and Civil Code Section 1947.12 covers many of the rest. For an apartment building, which rules apply to each unit shapes the rent roll, the gap between in-place and market rents, and the value on each date.
• Mandatory seismic retrofits. City of Los Angeles Ordinance 183893 requires the retrofit of pre-1978 wood-frame soft-story buildings and non-ductile concrete buildings. Whether a building is on the list, whether the work was done and permitted, and when, can differ between the date of separation and trial, and buyers and lenders price it.
• Measure ULA and city transfer taxes. The City of Los Angeles collects an additional transfer tax on higher-priced sales under Measure ULA, with thresholds the Office of Finance adjusts each year, and several other cities set their own rates. That can change how comparable sales near the thresholds were priced, so we read City of Los Angeles sales with it in mind.
• The January 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires. For a lot or building in Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Altadena or Pasadena, a date of separation before the fires and a current value after them are two different appraisal problems: an improved property in one market, and a burned lot, debris removal and rebuild rules in another. Insurance proceeds may be divided separately. See casualty loss appraisals in California for before-and-after values.
• Residential alongside commercial. Many Los Angeles estates mix a family home, a rental house or two and commercial buildings. We appraise residential property alongside the commercial property for the same clients, so the whole estate is valued on the same date with the same approach.

How do you value several properties in one Los Angeles marital estate?

Consistently. When an estate holds a fourplex in Long Beach, an industrial building in the San Fernando Valley and a rental in Orange County, each property gets its own report or its own section, but the valuation date, the assumptions and the level of support are the same across all of them. That keeps the division fair and keeps the argument on the facts. See multi-property portfolio appraisals.

A few things to settle up front:

• Who holds title. When an LLC or partnership holds a building, we appraise the real estate. If the case needs the value of the spouse’s interest in the entity, that is a business valuation question for a business appraiser or CPA, who can use our real estate value as a starting point. See fractional interest appraisals.
• Disclosure. Under Family Code Section 2104, each party serves a preliminary declaration of disclosure. Rent rolls, leases, RSO registration records, retrofit permits, operating statements and loan documents for each property make the appraisal faster and better supported.
• Property that gets missed. Under Family Code Section 2556, the court keeps jurisdiction to divide community assets that were omitted from the judgment. A full property list at the start is cheaper than a postjudgment motion later.

What happens with property taxes and income taxes when one spouse keeps the building?

Generally, keeping a building does not trigger a new Los Angeles County assessment. Revenue and Taxation Code Section 63 excludes transfers to a spouse or former spouse in connection with a property settlement agreement or a decree of dissolution from the definition of a change in ownership. For federal income tax, Internal Revenue Code Section 1041 generally treats a transfer between spouses, or between former spouses incident to the divorce, as a gift, so the receiving spouse takes the transferor’s basis. Two buildings with the same market value can carry very different built-in tax costs, which matters when the CPA builds the division. Talk to your attorney or CPA about how these rules apply to you.

If the spouse who keeps a building later refinances to buy out the other spouse, the lender will order its own appraisal for the loan. A divorce appraisal and a lending appraisal have different intended users, so plan on separate reports. We do both: see private and hard money lending appraisals.

Why do Los Angeles family law attorneys and CPAs call PM Appraisal?

• You talk to your appraiser. No coordinator, no AMC portal. We pick up the phone and walk you through the value.
• Every property type, every county. Apartments, industrial, retail, office, hotels, land, mixed-use and new construction, from Lancaster to Long Beach and the rest of California. See commercial appraisal in Los Angeles and our full commercial property appraisal services.
• Every kind of commercial appraisal. Divorce is one example. We also prepare date-of-death, trust, lending, partition, litigation, tax appeal and consulting assignments.
• Rush commercial appraisals in 5 to 7 business days, when a mediation or trial date is close. See rush commercial appraisals.
• Detailed narrative reports that show the comparables and the reasoning, so the value holds up when the other side reads it.

Standard timing depends on the property and scope. Call (805) 990-9700 for a timeline on your assignment. Attorneys and CPAs: call (805) 990-9700 to scope a divorce, date of separation or retrospective appraisal.

Keep reading

• Divorce appraisals in California
• Divorce appraisals of commercial property in California
• Commercial appraisal in Los Angeles
• Retroactive and retrospective appraisals
• Date of death appraisal in Los Angeles
• Commercial property appraisal in California

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Talk to your attorney or CPA about your situation.