Financial Planning
Leaving a Company: Build an Equity Deadline and Document Register
Build an award-by-award register of service-end facts, contractual exercise dates, expiration and unresolved professional questions.
What you will learn
- Distinguish service-end, vesting, contractual exercise and maximum-expiry fields.
- Track different award deadlines without assuming one universal window.
- Prepare an evidence-backed question list without making an exercise or tax decision.
When leaving a company, build one source-linked row per equity award. Record the service-end facts, vesting status, contractual exercise availability and maximum expiration separately. A remembered “90-day rule” is not a reliable substitute for the actual documents and professional confirmation.
Separate the clocks
The IRS statutory-options discussion describes an employment-related tax condition using three months, with exceptions. That is not the same question as when an award contract expires. Three calendar months and 90 days are not interchangeable universal rules.
A historical stock plan amended in 2020 and filed with the SEC illustrates separate exercisability, award-term and termination provisions. Its specific periods are not instructions for another holder. Actual agreements, amendments, service facts and applicable law must be reviewed together.
Keep different dates in different fields
| Field | Source to confirm | Do not infer |
|---|---|---|
| Service-end fact | Company confirmation and applicable records | That every benefit uses one identical termination definition |
| Vesting through that point | Award schedule and status confirmation | That every granted unit is vested |
| Contractual exercise period | Award/plan/amendment and reviewer response | A universal 90-day window |
| Maximum award expiration | Grant-specific source record | That a post-service period overrides it |
| Tax-status questions | Qualified tax adviser using current rules | That a longer contract window preserves a particular tax status |
Work a fictional register
Fictional case: a company confirms a person’s service ends on relative Day 0. The following quantities and document-derived dates are stipulated teaching inputs, not calculated legal deadlines. Assume there are no disputed facts for A or B. C’s hypothetical terms expressly use the earlier of two stated dates.
Different awards, different open work
| Award | Confirmed eligible option shares | Stipulated contract information | Useful next action |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1,000 | The written confirmation states Day 60 | Verify the required process and retain the response |
| B | 2,000 | The written confirmation states Day 180 | Ask separately about tax classification; do not assume it lasts as long |
| C | 500 | Earlier of post-service Day 120 or maximum expiration Day 40 | Record Day 40 under the supplied terms and confirm the source interpretation |
| D | Unconfirmed | Agreement and portal disagree | Escalate the discrepancy; do not enter a guessed date |
The 3,500 confirmed option shares are not newly issued stock. Nor is a later date in B necessarily more valuable overall; taxes, purchase cash, rights and outcomes are separate questions.
Record the operational requirements too
Ask who confirms the permitted submission method, payment steps, cutoff time zone, receipt and completion status. A draft request or a bank transfer initiated is not automatically a completed exercise. Do not test an actual transaction merely to see what happens.
Keep real account numbers, signatures and personal identifiers out of any public worksheet or general AI prompt. Use authorized summaries and ask the company which secure channel is appropriate for the underlying records.
Handle uncertainty before arithmetic
- Preserve the conflicting values and their source versions.
- Name the person authorized to resolve the question.
- Record the response date and any stated assumptions.
- Keep proposed, submitted and confirmed-complete states distinct.
- Do not change an authoritative equity record from an informal answer.
The cap-table checklist explains the broader source-record review. This register organizes questions; it does not advise whether to spend money, sell or retain an award.
Make the handoff usable
Award ID / type / document versions:
Confirmed service-end facts:
Granted / vested / exercised / settled quantities:
Contractual date and exact source:
Maximum expiration and other conditions:
Tax-status question, separately:
Process / cutoff / receipt questions:
Unresolved issue / company contact / adviser / next action:Copyable AI prompt: Organize the open questions
Try this with Aurora AI in Finta, Codex, or Claude. Use only material you are authorized to share.
Organize an equity offboarding evidence register from redacted authorized summaries. Inputs: [award IDs], [document-derived dates and timezone], [service facts], [conflicting statements], [company and adviser roles]. Keep contractual expiry, vesting, exercise completion and tax-status questions separate. Preserve conflicts verbatim and identify who should confirm each answer. Do not calculate a personal deadline, decide eligibility, recommend exercise/sale/borrowing, fill forms, send requests or change records. Return a question register and source checklist for human review.Keep follow-through connected
Bring an authorized summary and the open questions into Finta Documents. Ask Aurora to help organize the review conversation, not calculate eligibility or execute an exercise. Finta Academy offers broader practical founder education.
Finta Field Guide. By Finta Editorial Team. Sources checked November 14, 2026. Examples are original, fictional teaching cases, not customer results or individualized legal, tax, accounting or investment advice.