My wife had a home appraisal done on my house (her name is not on the title) can she legally do this?

you're lucky you live in an equitable distribution state & not a community property state because in a community property state, you converted your home into marital property by making it the marital home. but since you live in Illinois, what was yours before marriage is still yours after marriage.

the appraiser has no way of knowing if you purchased the property before or after marriage. in your state, all property purchased after marriage belongs to the marriage regardless of whose name is or isn't on the title. all the appraiser knows is that your wife (not your ex) wanted to get an appraisal on the home she physically shares with you.

for that matter, if you were renting it out & the renter was interested in buying it then they could hire an appraiser to come by & appraise the house for them.

talk to your lawyer & get your ducks in a row if you're planning on ending this marriage but don't worry too much about her getting an appraisal on your property. as I understand the law in your state, it's your property not marital property & her getting an appraisal on your property is pretty much worthless to her unless she can prove you've converted it into marital property. (that burden is on her)

Okay, she is not on the title, so this basically means she can't sell the house. You two are still married, though, and this is the marital home, so she had every right to be there and every right to invite a guest inside, including an appraiser. If the appraiser sends you a bill then I could understand you contesting that, but I don't see any laws being broken here. I've been in your shoes and understand that the little things tend to get on people's nerves during a divorce, but this is kind of a foolish thing to be worrying about. This would be like questioning her right to call a plumber if the pipes started pouring water out of them.

Looking at the bigger picture, your concern needs to be why she had the appraisal done and what she is hoping to gain from it. My guess would be that it's an insurance policy in case you try to lowball the value of the property when it comes time to divide the marital estate and determine any support obligations you might have to her. Title or not, she most likely has financial interest in the property and is most likely going to be awarded some of its value in the divorce.

Best of luck.

EDIT: The appraiser was hired by your wife, the property owner's spouse. He did not trespass and I presume he did not damage the property. What recourse are you hoping to have? Do you want the appraisal somehow nullified or do you want the appraiser fired because he had the misfortune of unknowingly becoming involved in your nasty divorce? Really, man, do yourself a favor and let this go. Sometimes winning a battle costs you the war. If she tries to use the appraisal against you in some way, you can try to convince the judge that it was ill-gotten. That's really your only recourse.

There is no law that says only a property owner can request an appraisal. When a home is sold, the bank or the buyer orders the appraisal and not the current owner/seller, so this is very common.

As long as she had permission to be on the property at the time, she can allow anyone else she wants to come on the property as well. Ownership/title does not matter in the least.

You'll have to find some other angle to mess her up if that is your goal.

I can get an appraisal on anything I want, you don't have to agree.

If they want to get inside, I might have a problem, but I can get an appraisal on any property in the world. I might want to get appraisal on a whole community I plan to buy and level to re-develop; I need no authorization to pursue appraisals.

Just having an appraisal means nothing though, so what is your concern.

Do you live in a community property state?

Can she call a company to do an appraisal, let me into the house that she has a key for (I assume she lives there with you), and pay for it?

Why wouldn't she be able to do this?

I don't believe she should be able to legally get an appraisal. But she thinks it's worth a try.

Was she still living in the house?

Why does it matter? She can't do anything with it anyway.