Tracking down stocks I own
In 1999, I purchased shares of the company I was working for, through an employee stock purchase plan. Sometime after 2003, my wife opened on online brokerage account and put the stock there for management. And, to the best of anyone's recollection, there it sat. I would receive the shareholder's pamphlet describing things to be voted on multiple times over the years. The email address she was using at that time has been shut off for 5+ years at this point, so any online brokerage emails aren't coming to her.
Fast-forward to 2017. My wife has long forgotten what account she had put it in; she stopped handling financial matters in 2007 and that particular account didn't get handed over to me at that time. And last week we got divorced. As part of the divorce settlement, if we can find the shares, we'll sell them and split the proceeds. But first we have to find them.
How can I track down these shares? If the company knows that I'm a shareholder enough that they could mail me documents from time to time, do they also know which brokerage is holding the stocks?
(2)2 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
There's two possibilities.
One is that the broker declared your account abandoned and turned over your account to the state. If that happened, it should turn up here: missingmoney.com
The second is that the broker is still holding your stock. I'd start by contacting the company's transfer agent.
My best answer is to simply fish out that old email account. DumbCoder makes a good point - the company whose shares you own can probably figure out what brokerage firm is holding the shares, but it'd take a lot on their end. Honestly you're better off just hitting up random brokerage firms until you find the right one than going to the company and asking them where your shares are.
Good luck.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.