I recently inherited various stocks from my brother who died June 29, 1998.
Short term is defined as less than one year and long term is defined as more than a year.
Many people reallocate an inherited portfolio at the time of death because of the favorable tax treatment. It is the one time when capital gains taxes may be eliminated. They have since frozen this plan, allowing for no future contributions. Sometimes the company has adopted a new retirement plan and only permits transfers to the new plan. More frequently, if a company freezes a retirement plan, the company encourages participants to withdraw their account balances.