🇳🇿 Valuing your Indian property from New Zealand

The valuation date that surprises everyone

Under New Zealand's relationship property regime the default valuation date is the date of the hearing, not the date you separated. Couples who separated years ago and are only now resolving matters often assume the older date applies. It usually does not, and a report prepared to the wrong date is wasted.

Ask your lawyer to confirm the date in writing, then tell us. Retrospective valuation is routine work, but it has to be commissioned for the right day.

Worldwide disclosure

Relationship property covers assets wherever they sit, and both parties disclose worldwide. The Indian flat or the ancestral share is in scope. Values are expressed in New Zealand dollars, so the report includes the conversion with the rate, its source and the date it applies to.

What the report has to carry

A declaration of independence, the valuer's registration number and qualifications explained for a reader unfamiliar with Indian credentialing, the basis of value, the comparables with their dates, and dated site photographs. A bare figure on a letterhead will not withstand a challenge from the other side.

Tax on the Indian side

Separately from any relationship property matter, selling triggers Indian deduction at source on the sale value unless a lower deduction certificate is in place beforehand, and repatriation needs a chartered accountant's certification.

Enforcement, honestly

A New Zealand order binds the parties. Actually transferring Indian immovable property requires steps in India, and an Indian court is not bound to give automatic effect to every foreign order. Ask your Indian lawyer before agreeing terms that assume a quick transfer.