Massachusetts Divorce Law Monitor : Boston, MA Divorce & Family Law Lawyer & Attorney : Nancy Van Tine : Burns & Levinson Law Firm

Hi there,

Dealing with stock options in divorce can be akin to solving a Rubik's cube puzzle.  There are lots of moving parts and you need to understand how they fit together, both legally and financially, in order to get it right.

Stock options come in a variety of flavors.  While there has been no definitive legal ruling on how to handle them, there are two cases (Baccanti is one and Wooters is the other) that come close.

Your lawyer will need to read and understand the plan documents, as well as to understand the purpose for which the options are awarded.  There may be several different purposes for which a company is awarding options, and each category of option may require a different divorce treatment.

Taxation is also a critical issue.  Stock options have a set  purchase price at which the owner can purchase the stock.  The idea being that the set price is lower than the market price when the owner exercises the options.  When the stock is sold, the gain on the sale is taxed as ordinary income.

If you are getting divorced and one or the other of you has stock options, please consult a good divorce attorney.

Best,

Nancy

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Hi there,

Maybe because of the date or just maybe the moon is full, but the Internet was awash with crazy stories this week that were tied (at least tangentially) to divorce.

First, yet another celebrity behaving badly and another sycophant behaving worse.  What surprised me about this was the involvement of the divorce attorney as a testifying witness!  Whatever happened to attorney-client privilege?

Then there was the case of that weird couple who named their kids after Nazis.  Apparently that was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of their poor parenting.

And finally there was the wife who discovered her husband had been cheating on her, via Facebook of course.  We've blogged about this sort of thing before. 

Separately, and on a totally serious note, there was another terrific post by Taxgirl that actually makes sense of the tax code mess created by DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) and gay marriages. Way to go Kelly!

Best,

Nancy

**UPDATE:  Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13, and related to a specific fear of Friday the 13th!

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Hi there,

If you read this blog I am sure you already guessed that I was thrilled to hear that the Federal Court has found California's Prop 8 (the vote that overturned gay marriage in California) unconstitutional. There is still a long, long way to go, but this is a terrific decision in my book.

A question that often comes up in divorces is what happens to the engagement ring.  Once you are married it clearly is a gift that belongs to the spouse who wore it. However if it was a family piece it can sometimes go back to the giftor.  It's value is included in the division of assets.  David Clement, who writes the terrific New York Divorce Blog, had a recent post on this. Jewelry is generally worth only about a third of the purchase price so that can be a shock.  Often someone will need to sell the ring for legal fees, or simply because the memories are bad.  A colleague just sent me a link to what looks like a terrific site if you wish to sell.

Best,

Nancy

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