Restricted Stock

Unregistered shares of a company, generally used as a form of executive compensation that vests on a schedule. These are shares that represent actual ownership in the company and are not publicly traded. The shares may only be traded within special regulations created by the SEC. In a divorce where the restricted stock units are earned by both marital labor and post-marital labor, they receive the same treatment as unvested stock options, i.e., they will be part-community, part-separate, and the percentage of what is community will depend on the employee’s purpose in awarding the RSUs and the vesting schedule. Additionally, if the employee-spouse leaves their job before the restricted stocks vest, the other spouse may have a claim for marital waste.