Hello, I am currently going through divorce and have Settlement Officer’s conference in early June. I had question on my stock brokerage account that I had pre-marriage and has been commingled a little bit with large appreciation. Our marriage duration has been 5 years (separated around 4.5 years mark).

As an example, I had $400 worth of stocks in my account prior to marriage. And then during marriage, let’s say that $400 amount has gone up to $800 due to stock appreciation. After that, I added $200 into the account using salary earned during the duration of the marriage (now at $1,000). That account is now worth $10,000 due to stock appreciation. How will the $10,000 be split?

My ex-wife had zero input on management of the money (I had a certain strategy and risk appetite that has not changed during marriage, and she didn’t have access to my account to manage the money).

Will my portion be worth $9,000 and hers be $1,000? I’m looking at perspective from $800 being 100% mine and $200 I put in being 50/50. And then fair-sharing the stock appreciation based on that split.

My ex initially thought she’d get $5,000 out of the $10,000 that I mentioned in the example, so she’s throwing a fit. What will happen if we can’t agree on the split during SOC? I suggested hiring a professional to trace the money and split, but I’m not sure if there’ll be enough time to do that before SOC. Please let me know if you need any clarification, thank you!