Florida High-Asset Divorce Lawyer

Stock Options and RSUs: Marital or Not?

Restricted stock units (RSUs) and stock options are common for people in tech, health care, finance, and fast-growing companies. The key question is why the award was given:

• If it rewards work already done during the marriage, it’s usually treated as marital.
• If it’s meant to keep you working for the company in the future, part of it may be non-marital.

Here’s an example. A spouse gets an RSU grant during the marriage that vests 25% a year. The award letter says it’s a reward for staying three more years. A court may treat the part tied to past work as marital and the part tied to future work as non-marital.

To sort this out, you need the grant agreements, plan documents, vesting schedules, award letters, and brokerage statements. Stock income can also affect alimony and child support.

Property You Owned Before Marriage Can Become Partly Marital

Owning something before the marriage doesn’t guarantee you keep all of it. Florida law treats the “enhancement in value and appreciation of nonmarital assets resulting from the efforts of either party during the marriage or from the contribution to or expenditure thereon of marital funds” as marital. See Fla. Stat. § 61.075(6)(a)1.b.

In Kaaa v. Kaaa, 58 So. 3d 867 (Fla. 2010), the Florida Supreme Court held that when marital money pays down the mortgage on a home one spouse owned before marriage, part of the home’s rise in value can be marital. Florida later wrote a formula for this into the statute.

So picture a condo bought five years before the wedding. During the marriage, joint money paid for a renovation and paid down the mortgage. The other spouse probably won’t get half the condo. But they may get a share of the value that marital money helped create.

The same thing happens when separate money gets mixed with marital money. A premarital brokerage account that later receives paychecks, or gets retitled in both names, can lose its separate status. Lawyers call this “commingling.”

Get Real Appraisals, Not Zillow Estimates

Zillow is not evidence. Without an appraisal, judges often fall back on tax records. In Florida, homestead caps can make a long-held home look worth far less on the tax roll than it really is. A licensed appraisal often costs $500 to $1,000. That’s small next to the amount at stake.

A practical approach: each spouse picks an appraiser, those two choose a neutral third, and both sides agree in writing to use the neutral’s number. It’s fast, fair, and it keeps your credibility intact.

Businesses usually need a formal valuation if the value is in dispute. Valuation experts rely on tax returns, general ledgers, bank statements, receivables and payables, ownership records, and customer data.

Business Owners: Income Is More Than Your W-2

For owners of S corporations and LLCs, a W-2 rarely tells the whole story. Courts look at real economic income, including K-1 pass-through income, retained earnings, and personal expenses the business pays.

Here’s an example. An owner lists $45,000 in W-2 income on the financial affidavit. The tax returns and bank statements show another $210,000 in pass-through income and personal expenses paid by the company. For support purposes, a court is likely to use about $255,000.

Full disclosure beats trying to look smaller on paper. Judges notice when the numbers don’t add up, and the hit to your credibility can cost more than the money you were trying to protect.

Goodwill: What Part of a Business Gets Divided?

Florida separates two kinds of business goodwill:

• Personal goodwill is value tied to one person’s skill, reputation, and presence. It is not divided.
• Enterprise goodwill is value that belongs to the business itself, such as its brand, systems, locations, and staff. It can be divided.

The Florida Supreme Court set this rule in Thompson v. Thompson, 576 So. 2d 267 (Fla. 1991). For example, a solo trial lawyer’s practice may be worth what it is mostly because of that lawyer’s reputation. That’s personal goodwill. A roofing company with crews, a known brand, and repeat contracts has enterprise goodwill, which is marital.

When a Forensic Accountant Is Worth It

A forensic accountant adds cost, but also clarity. They’re most helpful when there’s a business to value, stock awards to split, missing money to trace, or a dispute about real income. In one common pattern, a forensic accountant matches money coming in and going out, finds transfers to an account that was never disclosed, and changes the whole negotiation.

If both spouses are cooperating, the assets are easy to see, and the numbers are simple, you may not need one.

Alimony and Child Support in High-Asset Cases

Alimony isn’t automatic, but it often becomes a major issue when one spouse earns much more. Florida bases alimony on one spouse’s need and the other’s ability to pay, and the law now caps most awards. Our Florida alimony calculator shows how the caps work.

Child support follows a formula. See Fla. Stat. § 61.30. But in higher-income families, the formula doesn’t always capture real costs, such as private school, travel, activities, and health care. Those often need to be negotiated separately.

Pick Your Battles

Judges look for reasonableness. Fighting hard over small items while asking for large alimony can hurt your credibility, even if those items were part of your lifestyle. Buyouts, temporary sharing, and trades usually work better than a fight over every asset.

The Process Is the Same: Disclosure First

Even in the largest cases, the order doesn’t change. You file. Both sides exchange mandatory financial disclosure. The assets get identified, sorted, and valued. Then you mediate, and only the issues that truly can’t settle go to trial.

That order matters for temporary support, too. If a spouse stops paying the mortgage while the case is pending, a judge usually won’t order temporary support until disclosure is done. Once it is, temporary orders can follow within weeks.

Why Clients Choose Fairway Law Group for High-Asset Divorce

Our founders spent more than a decade handling high-stakes civil litigation, including defending Fortune 500 companies, before focusing on family law. We work with forensic accountants, appraisers, and business valuation experts, and your attorney handles your case personally. We represent clients throughout Florida from our offices in Deerfield Beach and Orlando. If you’re divorcing later in life, see our guide to divorce after 60 in Florida.