Opinion ID: 2332987
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dividend Reinvestment

Text: [¶ 26] The increase in the number of shares of stock resulting from dividend reinvestment  here, 16.696 shares of Proctor & Gamble stock  is generally also a neutral event for purposes of applying Maine's marital property statute to shares of stock acquired by one of the methods listed in section 953(2)(A)-(E). The income reflected in the dividend of a publicly traded security is the product of the company's financial performance, not the effort or contributions of either or both spouses. A spouse's decision to have dividends reinvested in the stock, rather than paid as cash, is a routine investment decision that does not transform the inherited shares of stock responsible for the reinvested dividends into marital property. In addition, as is considered in greater detail below, the new shares acquired through reinvested income are also nonmarital property unless either or both spouses had a substantial active role during the marriage in managing, preserving or improving the property. 19-A M.R.S.A. § 953(2)(E)(1)(b) (Supp.2001).