FAIR MARKET VALUE

Fair Market Value (FMV) – The fair market value is the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts.  The fair market value of a particular item of property includible in the decedent's gross estate is not to be determined by a forced sale price.  Nor is the fair market value of an item of property to be determined by the sale price of the item in a market other than that in which such item is most commonly sold to the public, taking into account the location of the item wherever appropriate.  Thus, in the case of an item of property includible in the decedent's gross estate, which is generally obtained by the public in the retail market, the fair market value of such an item of property is the price at which the item or a comparable item would be sold at retail.
     [Source:  U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 26, §20.2031-1(b)]