Practically, one of two paths happens. Both spouses agree on a single appraiser and share the cost, which is faster and cheaper and removes the argument about whose number is real. Or each retains their own, and if the two reports land far apart the lawyers negotiate between them or the court weighs them. Agreeing on one appraiser at the start saves months and several thousand dollars in most files.
The Homesteads Act, 1989 sits over the top of all of it. Neither spouse can sell or mortgage the family home without the other's written consent or a court order, so a Lawson Heights house cannot quietly be listed, refinanced or transferred while a division is unresolved. Every transfer still moves through Information Services Corporation with a lawyer regulated by the Law Society of Saskatchewan, and legal fees on the real estate portion typically run $800 to $1,500.
Lawson Heights is a 1970s and 1980s neighbourhood in north central Saskatoon near the river and Lawson Heights Mall, and homes of that vintage have almost always been renovated at least once. Windows, furnace, shingles, kitchens and developed basements added over four decades sit in nobody's file. Joel Dyck's hand-reviewed valuation documents those improvements so a buyout figure reflects the house that exists rather than the one on record.