Chapter 4 - The Renaldi shares
I owned sixteen percent of Renaldi Hospitality & Security Group.
The name sounded dramatic.
The business itself was legitimate.
Luxury hotels.
Private event security.
Commercial property management.
Executive transportation.
My grandfather founded the first hotel.
My father expanded the group.
I received five percent of my shares as gifts before marriage.
Purchased six percent with separate inheritance proceeds before marriage.
Received another five percent through a compensation plan tied to years of work in the company.
All before I married Wesley.
The shareholder agreement contained:
Transfer restrictions.
Right of first refusal.
Spousal acknowledgment.
No automatic ownership transfer through marriage.
Wesley had signed a spousal acknowledgment at our wedding planning stage.
It said clearly:
He had no voting, management, or transfer rights over my shares merely by virtue of marriage.
He knew.
Then distributions.
When the company paid dividends or profit distributions, the money entered my personal account first.
What happened after mattered.
If I moved money to joint accounts and used it for marital purposes, parts could become marital property depending law and tracing.
But that did not turn the underlying shares into his.
Access to distributions.
Ownership of stock.
Different things.
May you like
Wesley hated the distinction.
Especially after his business began failing.
