Everything people ask before they send the first email.

Yes. Your brokerage account is a US account governed by US securities law, and the firm is a FINRA member. Claims against it are brought in FINRA arbitration — a national, document-driven forum that does not care where the customer lives. Richard Frankowski has represented investors across the country from his Birmingham office for over twenty-five years, and represents expats the same way.

Almost never. The claim is filed electronically, documents are exchanged electronically, and hearings are routinely held by video. If an in-person hearing were ever necessary, you would know months in advance. Most cases settle before any hearing.

When you opened your brokerage account you almost certainly agreed to resolve disputes through FINRA arbitration instead of court. A panel of one or three arbitrators hears the case and issues a binding award. Full cases typically take twelve to eighteen months. Claims of $50,000 or less can use a simplified process decided on the papers.

Nothing up front. We work on contingency — a percentage of what is recovered, and nothing if nothing is recovered. The initial review of your statements is free and confidential.

FINRA’s eligibility rule bars claims based on events more than six years old, and state statutes of limitations can be shorter. Do not wait to find out which applies — send the documents and we will tell you.

The policy usually is not. How it was carried out can be: unauthorized sales, no reasonable notice, forced liquidations at bad prices, or a hand-off into an unsuitable replacement product are all separately actionable.

Then the first question is who regulates them. If a FINRA member firm or one of its representatives was involved, a US claim may exist. If not, we will tell you honestly and point you toward the right forum. Checking registration is free and takes minutes.

We set a standing call window that works in your time zone and move everything else by email and the FINRA portal. Clients in Thailand and the Philippines — twelve to fourteen hours ahead — work with us on the same cases and the same timelines as clients in Texas.

Recent account statements, the account-opening documents if you have them, any letters about restrictions or closure, and a short description of what happened. That is enough for a free initial review.

Alabama, Florida, and Texas. FINRA arbitration is a national forum, and he has represented investors from most US states in it. He is the co-author of the American Bar Association’s Practitioner’s Guide to Securities Arbitration and serves on the board of the PIABA Foundation.