In re the Marriage of Chumbley

During her marriage to Gerald Chumbley, Mary Patricia Beckmann acquired stock options through her employment. Beckmann exercised the options on three occasions, once by using a loan from her employer, once by using money from her separate account, and once by selling a portion of the purchased stock in order to pay for the remaining stocks. The dispute here involves the characterization of the stocks resulting from the options exercised with Beckmann’s separate property. Chumbley contends that the stocks are community property, and Beckmann contends that the stocks are her separate property.

We…