"P.Schuman" <pschuman_NO_SPAM_ME[at]interserv.com> writes:

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Absolutely. Think about it in the limit...you can request actual
stock certificates of almost anything you hold I believe. There's a
fee for doing so, but once you have the certificates, you can hand
them over literally.

However, in the usual case, you just do a share transfer. When I
quite an employer, for instance, the company holding the employee
stock purchase plan account I had do a wholesale share transfer of the
actual shares to a third party brokerage account. You can use such
transfers to create new account too.

What surprised me to learn about divorce situations is that they can
be justification for divying up shares in qualified retirement
accounts held in a single name to be split among the parties without
any tax penalty even. I think that's what I'd heard at least...


--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

P.Schuman wrote:
- quote -

The only issue a broker has is they need authorization to move assets to
a differently titled account. When moving shares from my employer's
stock purchase plan to my joint account I needed to sign "I understand
this transfer will make my wife a joint owner".
If the two parties of the divorce make the request in writing, the
broker will oblige. No half shares though. In the big picture, that will
be the least of anybody's issues.
JOE

"joetaxpayer" <joetaxpayer[at]nospam.com> wrote in message
news:0fCdncqzIrj-WhPYnZ2dnUVZ_tGsnZ2d[at]comcast.com...
- quote -

Can a Joint brokerage account with 100 shares of Cisco
be split into TWO NEW individual accounts with 50 shares each
and therefore not require selling of any stocks and no cap gains to contend
with...
Just didn't know if the brokerage firms will split things like that ?

- quote -

The implications of basis for tax purposes aside for the moment, why
would you have to 'sell' anything? If the stock is the last thing which
would even out the split, just split the shares. That's the easy part,
if neither, or both, wanted the house, that could be an issue. Part of
the house assignment would ride on the ability to remortgage the balance
into the name of the remaining, single, owner. It's certainly possible
that neither party would qualify as an individual.

JOE

"P.Schuman" <pschuman_NO_SPAM_ME[at]interserv.com> wrote in message
news:0Oyjh.11540$hI.4300[at]newssvr11.news.prodigy.net...
- quote -

or just transfer the proper amount of the assets to a new account?

And, of course, don't forget to consider the tax basis and thus the tax
liability for any assets as they are split up.

oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to conceive . . .

"Dale Maley" <dmaley[at]route24.net> wrote in message
news:emji5o025vh[at]news1.newsguy.com...
- quote -

just like with physical assets (cars, house, boat, etc)

But - what if they just have a single joint brokerage account ?
How is that handled ? Are they forced to sell everything to be able to split,
just like with any other single physical asset (cars, house, boat, etc)
I mean, if the investment account is worth $500k,
and the car + house + boat is not equal... then I guess you have to "sell"
some stocks to get the account down to match the other assets.

I was financial advisor for my sisters divorce about 3 years
ago.......assets were divided up between parties.....on joint
accounts...asset was retitled (or ownership changed from joint to
individual).

One interesting twist under Illinois law (every state has their own
twists on divorce law).......the 2 parties can not be forced to use net
present value to value retirement plans. If one party has a
significantly better retirement plan, it would have a higher net present
value than the poorer retirement plan. In Illinois, the law.....and
appeals cases......support any method of splitting up the assets that is
equitable or agreeable between the 2 parties.....but the law does not
force net present value upon the parties. Judges perceive net present
value as too complicated.......and general practice is to let each of
the 2 parties keep their respective retirement plans to keep it simple.
This is a little frustrating if you have a poor retirement plan......and
your spouse has a rich retirement plan......that may be worth several
hundred thousand more in net present value.

And as they say, the only parties that do well in a divorce are the
attorneys

Dale

P.Schuman wrote:

- quote -

P.Schuman wrote:

- quote -

It's all negotiable, so long as basis is preserved. i.e. a stock owned
at $10, worth $20, still has that basis and acquisition date. In some
cases, one partner gets the house, the other, stocks. It would be a rare
case where sales are forced for all assets, maybe the home(s), but not
stocks. 401(k) can be split and remain pre-tax on order of the court.

JOE

happen to see on TV last night - Grey's Anatomy -
where they were splitting the assets up...
Brownstone over Central Park, place in Hamptons,
and the classical stocks & bonds.

In real life - what actually happens in divorce with
stocks and mutual funds that are setup as JT accounts ?

When my mom died, I know I had to file a form & death cert
to remove her name from the various accounts, savings bonds, etc
but what's the logistics for a divorce ?

Are you forced to liquidate all assets, split up the cash,
and then be burdened with each having 1/2 the cap gains to report ?