e personal representative must take and subscribe an oath that the inventory referred to in Section 2603 of this Title contains a true statement of all of the estate of the decedent which has come to the personal representative’s possession or knowledge, and particularly of all money belonging to the decedent, and of all just claims of the decedent against the affiant. The oath must be endorsed upon or annexed to the inventory.

SOURCE: Probate Code of Guam (1970), § 604.

§ 2613. Appraisement: Personalty to be Appraised, or its Value Estimated, by Personal Representative; Court has Discretion to Order Professional Appraisement of Personalty; Real Property to be Appraised by Court-Appointed Appraiser; Procedure.
(a) (1) The personal representative shall appraise at fair market value moneys, currency, cash items, bank accounts and amounts on deposit with any financial institution, and the proceeds of life and accident insurance policies and retirement plans payable upon death in lump sum amounts, excepting therefrom such items whose fair market value is, in the personal representative’s opinion, an amount different from the
ostensible value or specified amount. As used herein, Afinancial
institution@ means a bank, trust company, federal savings and
loan association, savings institution chartered and supervised as a savings and loan or similar institution under federal law or the laws of the territory of Guam, federal credit union, or credit union chartered and supervised under the laws of the territory of Guam.

(2) The personal representative shall estimate the fair market value of each item excepted from the appraisement

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referred to in subsection (a)(1) of this Section, and of each other item of personal property belonging to the estate, and enter his estimate of the value of each such item on the inventory and appraisement provided by Section 2603 of this Title in lieu of an appraisement thereof, noting thereon with respect to each such item that the value set forth on the inventory and appraisement for each such item is an estimate of such item’s fair market value and not an appraisement thereof.
(3) If the Superior Court of Guam determines, either upon the hearing for confirmation of the sale of any item, whose fair market value was estimated by the personal representative pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of this Section, or upon the settlement of any account of the personal representative, or at any other time prior to the discharge of the personal representative, that the personal representative’s estimate of the fair market value of any item made pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a)(2) of this Section was materially incorrect, the Superior Court of Guam may order that the fair market value of such item be appraised by a qualified, disinterested person who shall be appointed as appraiser by the Superior Court of Guam.
(b) The appraisement of all assets belonging to the estate, other than those appraised or estimated by the personal representative pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of this Section, shall be made by one qualified, disinterested person who shall be appointed as appraiser by the Superior Court of Guam. The personal representative shall furnish to the appraiser such information concerning the assets appraised or estimated by the personal representative, or concerning any other assets of the estate, as the appraiser shall require, in substance and form as prescribed by the appraiser.

(c) Neither the personal representative nor the personal representative’s attorney shall be entitled to receive compensation for extraordinary services by reason of appraising or estimating the fair market value of any asset pursuant to the provisions of this Section.

SOURCE: California Probate Code, § 605 (as amended); Guam Law Revision
Commission.

COMMENT: Under current California law, as well as under prior Guam law, the assets of the estate are appraised by someone other than the personal representative

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(except for those assets enumerated in subsection (a)(1) of § 2613.) The Commission is of the opinion that such professional appraisement is unnecessary, in most cases, with respect to items of personal property belonging to the estate; in most cases, the personal representative’s estimate of the value of such items should be sufficient. The Commission has thus added subsection (a)(2), requiring the personal representative to estimate the fair market value of estate personal property (and of those items specifically exempted from appraisement by subsection (a)(1),) and to note on the inventory and appraisement that the value set forth for such items is an estimate and not an appraisement. Recognizing that such estimates may not always be correct, however, the Commission has also incorporated into subsection (a)(2) the provision that the court has full discretion to require any such item to be appraised by a professional appraiser (as is always done with respect to real property under subsection (b) of § 2613) if the court determines that the estimate made by the personal representative is materially incorrect. The Commis- sion is of the opinion that this scheme should be fair to all parties concerned, and should substantially decrease the estate’s outlay for appraiser’s fees while still ensuring that all assets of the estate will be appraised at a value very close to (if not always exactly) fair market value.