We are pleased to announce that Kristi Anderson Wells, of Wells Family Law, PC, has been selected to the 2023 Colorado Super Lawyers list. This is an exclusive list, recognizing no more than 5% of attorneys in the state. Super Lawyers is a resear...
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Our Firm
Litigation, Mediation, Collaboration
Wells Family Law focuses on the things that matter: preserving your assets, ensuring the well-being of you and your children, and assisting you through the difficult life transitions that accompany divorce, legal separation, and child custody disputes. Our firm provides discreet family law services to high net worth individuals. While these life transitions can be profound, often accompanied by emotional issues that can exacerbate conflict, we provide compassionate counsel to our clients with insight into the entirety of their circumstances. It is our core values and skills that inform our approach to domestic issues.
Transcript
I think what’s different about our Law
Firm from other law firms is really our
focus on practical Solutions we bring a
lot to the table but you know there are
a lot of competent attorneys in Colorado
our goal though is really to provide uh
the type of services for complex
litigation and for collaborative divorce
in a way that doesn’t increase conflict
I’ve been through my own personal
divorce we’ve had people here who’ve
gone through Domestic Relations matters
and it’s really our goal to leave
parties better than we find them and
it’s really not our job to increase
conflict we have a duty to zealously
represent our clients but by the same
token I feel like despite the fact that
there’s no Hippocratic Oath in law we
also have a duty to not to create damage
in families so I think really what sets
us apart is our focus on getting people
through this process in a way that makes
sense and that provides them with
solutions they can live with
foreign
so my background actually before coming
to family law was in the area of
executive compensation for Fortune 500
companies as a result my area of focus
really is in complex issues related to
stock rates closely held businesses High
asset issues High income issues but we
also provide services related to
Parenting plans relocation alienation
post-degree issues pretty much
everything that touches on Domestic
Relations we’re there
foreign
I have some pretty strong feelings about
this I really think people should
really look for an attorney who is going
to run their case the way they want it
to be run there are people out there
that want to have the biggest fight ever
and they really want to hire a bulldog
but there are people whose focus is
really on making sure that they are able
to co-parent with with their children’s
father or Mother after the divorce
people who have complex issues that
maybe shouldn’t go in front of a judge
because a judge won’t be able to figure
them out I think it’s really important
that people hire the attorney who’s
going to be able to run their case in
the way that they want it run I think
there was recently a movie called a
marriage story that expressed this very
well and that is that both parties sort
of had an agreement that they were not
going to have a terrible divorce and
that there wasn’t that much to divide
and then one the wife hired an attorney
who you know ran the case and created a
storyline for the case that seemed very
different to the husband than what he
thought the case was about and then
husband had to go hire litigation
counsel and the next thing you knew both
parties were sitting in court and their
case was being driven by the attorney’s
view of the case and not by their own
view of the case so focusing on ensuring
that you’re hiring the attorney who will
run the case the way you want it to be
run is very important and if it turns
out you’ve hired an attorney who’s
running the case in a direction you’re
not interested in it’s never too late to
switch counsel
Transcript
How are vested and unvested stock rights treated in a Colorado divorce?
0:04
so stock rates is a general term that
0:06
encompasses a lot of different types of
0:09
equity compensation things like stock
0:12
options restricted stock restricted
0:14
stock units sometimes we see Phantom
0:16
stock rights or stock appreciation
0:18
rights all of those are forms of
0:20
executive compensation and all of them
0:24
can be very complex and very different
0:25
there’s no uh format that’s sort of
0:28
generally governs those rights although
0:31
the Internal Revenue code does play into
0:33
it but every single plan is different
0:35
every award agreement is different and
0:38
the difficulty is in Colorado vesting is
0:41
not determinative when you’re looking at
0:43
whether or not a stock right is marital
0:45
property so everyone comes into my
0:47
office and says I don’t have to worry
0:49
about the stock options they’re not
0:51
vested yet so once they vest we’ll
0:53
already be divorced and it’s my separate
0:55
property the law in Colorado is very
0:57
clear that vesting is not determinative
0:59
so instead we have to look to the
1:02
contract the plan document any
1:04
amendments any award agreements
1:06
sometimes it’s in the employment
1:08
agreement sometimes in the severance
1:10
agreement we have to look at the
1:11
contract that provides the benefit and
1:14
determine whether there’s a presently
1:16
enforceable right if there’s a presently
1:18
enforceable right regardless of whether
1:20
or not the stock rate is vested you’ve
1:22
got marital property now I’m getting
1:26
into what forms it presently enforceable
1:28
right it’s a very long and involved
1:30
process but it really boils down to are
1:33
there any circumstances under the plan
1:34
where the person who’s received the
1:36
award could get the stock right before
1:39
investing is there a provision that says
1:42
they can get it if they die or they
1:43
become disabled during the vesting
1:45
period sometimes there are Provisions
1:47
that say if there’s a change in control
1:48
of the corporation during the vesting
1:50
period their vesting will accelerate
1:52
those sorts of Provisions that provide
1:54
that people can get that award before
1:56
the end of the vesting period will
1:58
create property in Colorado and we have
2:01
to address that and unfortunately
2:02
there’s no formula you have to read
2:04
those documents and understand what they
2:06
say in order to determine whether or not
2:07
there’s property right
Our Team
Wells Family Law was featured on ColoradoBiz Magazine’s December, 2022, issue as one of Colorado’s Top 200 Private Companies. It is the firm’s first time being ranked on this list. We are honored that our hard work and growth over the past few ...
12 Dec Wells Family Law | PC Selected by Best Lawyers for the The Best Law Firms in America List 2023
Wells Family Law is honored to be selected as one of the Best Law Firms in America for 2023 by Best Lawyers. Best Lawyers has also recognized all three of our attorneys for individual recognition: Kristi Anderson Wells for the 2023 edition of Best La...
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