Where does vesting collide?

In property law, vesting is the moment an interest in property stops being merely contingent and becomes a fixed, present right: a remainder is vested when there is an ascertained person ready to take it with no unmet condition standing in the way, as opposed to a contingent interest that may still fail. Moynihan and Kurtz's Introduction to the law of real property sets out the line between vested and contingent remainders. The referent is the legal status of an ownership interest as settled rather than conditional, and it is a different construct from an employee earning stock over time or a priest donning liturgical garments, joined to them only by the word's meaning of being firmly settled.[1]

Unit

Whether a future interest in property is settled (vested) or still conditional (contingent)

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Classified in law by whether the taker is ascertained and any conditions precedent are satisfied

In compensation and finance, vesting is the process by which an employee gradually earns the unconditional right to equity awards (stock options or restricted shares), typically by remaining employed through a schedule, so that unvested awards are forfeited if the person leaves early. Hall and Murphy's 2003 The trouble with stock options analyses how such vesting-laden grants are valued and how they shape incentives. The referent is the conditional-until-earned maturation of an equity claim, measured by the vesting schedule and the vested fraction, and it is unrelated to a property interest settling in law or a cleric robing for worship beyond the shared idea of a right becoming firm.[2]

Unit

The fraction of an equity award that has become the holder's unconditional right over the schedule

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Tracked by the vesting schedule: the portion vested versus forfeitable over time or on performance