Brokerage Accounts in an Oregon Divorce: Mediator Matthew House, J.D.

A brokerage account is a financial account that lets you buy and sell investments like stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Some of Matthew's clients have a brokerage account for their individual investments, whereas others may have such an account to hold stock granted to them by their employer or purchased at a discount through an Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

If you have a brokerage account or other stock holdings (not stock options, which will be discussed separately), here's the short version of what you need to know about how the mediation process will address the account:

• In general, brokerage accounts can be transferred from one party to the other. Alternatively, in most cases, they can be divided, whereby a portion of the account is transferred to a new account for one party, and the other party keeps the rest.
• The documentation you will need will be relatively simple, usually consisting of just your recent statements and a year of transaction history.
• Brokerage accounts often include holdings that will be subject to taxation when the shares are sold.
• The valuation for divorce purposes will take into account the taxes that will eventually be owed and paid.
• A brokerage account is easy to transfer or divide. Matthew will help you understand the "big picture" to ensure that you have thought about the potential advantages and disadvantages of having the brokerage account as a portion of your asset mix, and he will discuss the short-term and long-term impact of the options you are considering.
• The processing time to transfer or divide a brokerage account is relatively short, and it can sometimes happen before the divorce is finalized, if both parties agree.