Debra Leitner
When you have a question about the value of a piece of art, you may incur a risk. It may be the risk of selling too low, or of paying too much; the risk of being over or under insured; the risk of not getting your fair share in a division of property; the risk of incurring tax penalties or being audited when claiming a deduction for charitable contribution or when calculating estate taxes. A professional appraiser helps you manage these and other risks by providing a written opinion of value upon which you can base your financial decisions. Rather than someone else taking an “educated guess”, the professional appraiser develops conclusions based on prescribed methods of evaluation, research and report writing.
Bankers, financiers, investors, insurers, adjustors, estate managers, trustees, executors, attorneys, judges, federal and state tax agencies…. all depend upon the knowledge and expertise of the appraiser and so should you. Too often and too late, people find that their appraisals, done by a non-qualified appraiser, are inaccurate or misleading, which results in greater risks to their financial well-being.
It is essential that a qualified appraiser prepare your appraisals. The IRS will only accept estate and donation appraisals prepared by a qualified appraiser, which is defined in IRS publication 561 as “an individual who has earned an appraisal designation from a recognized professional appraiser organization for demonstrated competency in valuing the type of property being appraised.” Debra Leitner is a fully accredited member of the International Society of Appraisers, which is the largest association of trained and tested property appraisers in the USA. Leitner has also completed the ISA Fine Art Specialty certification in addition to the personal property program.
Leitner Fine Art LLC provides expertise in appraisal services for:
- Charitable donation
- Equitable distribution
- Estate planning
- Probate/ estate tax
- Sale and purchase
- Collateral valuation
All appraisals are prepared in accordance with the current Uniform Standards for Professional Appraisal Foundation (USPAP) promulgated by the Appraisal Standard Board, Appraisal Foundation, Washington DC and authorized by Congress as the source of appraisal standards and qualifications.