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As a general rule, whoever commissions the appraisal report bears the costs. In a court case concerning equalization of accrued gains or division of assets, the court may also apportion the costs between both parties or assign them to the party that loses the case.
Privately commissioned appraisal report
If one of the spouses alone commissions a valuer – for instance to quantify their own claim to equalization of accrued gains or to calculate a payout to the other party – they generally also bear the costs. This applies even if the appraisal report is later used as a basis in the divorce proceedings.
Jointly commissioned appraisal report
In practice, it is often advisable to jointly commission a neutral, independent valuer and split the costs equally. This avoids disputes about the reliability of the result and is usually more economical than obtaining two separate appraisal reports that would then have to be weighed against each other.
Court-appointed appraisal report
If a valuer is appointed by the court as part of family court proceedings (e.g., equalization of accrued gains or partition auction), the costs are treated as part of the procedural costs. The court determines in its cost decision who bears the costs – often in proportion to the parties' success and failure in the proceedings, but in many cases simply split equally between the parties.
Important: the correct valuation date
Regardless of the cost issue, the chosen valuation date is decisive for the amount of the equalization of accrued gains. For the final assets, the date the divorce petition is served (litis pendency) is generally the relevant date, not the date of separation. A valuer should therefore always be involved at an early stage in order to relate the value precisely to the relevant valuation date.