Opinion ID: 2229930
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Plans at Issue on This Appeal

Text: Here, the trial court, after placing a stipulation of settlement on the record as related to divorce, custody, visitation, distribution of property and maintenance and support obligations, adjourned for written submissions on the remaining open issue, namely the valuation and distribution of the stock plans. Then, without the benefit of any testimony from the husband, the husband's employer or a stock plan expert, the court distinguished the ISOP and RRP from a third stock benefit plan, the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), which the court found to be a fully vested pension plan subject to ERISA. As to the ISOP and RRP, the court declined to apply the Majauskas formula, although it did apply that formula both to the ESOP plan and to another pension, neither of which is contested on appeal. As noted above, the Appellate Division affirmed, holding that both plans constituted deferred compensation for the period of employment during the marriage and thus were entirely marital property. In our view, both courts lacked a sufficient basis for their determinations that the two stock plans constituted deferred compensation for employment during the marriage rather than some portion at least being purely incentive. The record does not reveal whether Astoria was rewarding the husband as a valued employee for past services, as well as providing a financial incentive to retain him as an officer. We do not know if these plans constituted a part of a key employee compensation package, given that Astoria was in the process of restructuring its corporate ownership and going public. We do not know what these stock plans represent, or how the husband's entitlement was calculated by Astoria. The parties' submissions, absent sworn testimony or documentation from persons with knowledge of just how and why these stock plans came to be, do not suffice to enable the courts to determine what portions of the plans at issue, if any, constitute marital property. Consequently, a remittal to the trial court is necessary to make specific findings upon further appropriate proceedings. [4]