Employee stock options (ESOs) are call options that are issued as a private contract between the employer and employee. Over the course of employment, a company may issue or grant vested or non-vested employee stock options to an employee with a stated strike price (the price at which the option can be exercised). The strike price is often the company's current stock price when the options are issued or granted. Depending on the vesting schedule and the maturity of the options, the employee may elect to exercise the options at some point, obligating the company to sell the employee its stock at whatever stock price was used as the strike price. At that point, the employee may either sell the stock, or hold on to it in the hope of further price appreciation.
In a marital dissolution, employee stock options are generally considered marital property to the extent they were granted and vest during the marriage. If they were granted before marriage but vest during marriage or were granted during marriage but vest after separation, they may need to be apportioned between marital and separate property according to family law of the state in which the couple reside.
Our analyst will value the options, if necessary, and will apportion the value of each grant of employee stock options between marital property (or community property) and separate property for divorce and then document the results of the analysis in an Employee Stock Option Valuation/Allocation Report. In addition, we can also value the stock options for wrongful termination, breach of employment contract, or other situations that require the value of the stock options to be determined.
Click here for more information on valuing employee stock options.
Our Employee Stock Option Valuation/Allocation Report consists of 10 to 15 pages and can usually be completed in 2 to 3 weeks.
The professional fees for the Employee Stock Option Valuation/Allocation Report is $200 per hour and total fees are calculated on a case by case basis. Please Contact Us or call (800) 221-6826 to obtain a no-obligation, fee quote.