Spousal Consent through Fillable Templates now live

In several states (such as California, Texas, and Washington), any assets acquired during a marriage are generally considered owned 50/50 by both spouses.

Without this form, a company faces several risks:

• Divorce Complications: If a couple divorces, a judge might award half of the equity to the ex-spouse. The company doesn't want an "accidental" shareholder who isn't an employee or who might be hostile to the business.
• Transfer Restrictions: Most equity agreements have "Right of First Refusal" (ROFR) or specific transfer restrictions. A spouse who hasn't signed the agreement might claim they aren't bound by those rules.
• Voting Rights: The company wants to ensure that the voting power remains with the person actually involved in the business.

The spousal consent can be a separate document, but it is almost always bundled within the same "package" as the grant agreement, as an attachment or an exhibit.

While the Grant Agreement is the contract between the holder and the company, the Spousal Consent is a side-agreement between the spouse and the company.

How do I use it?

To get started, navigate to Essentials > Manage Equity > Vesting and securities templates.

Once there click on Create document set.

Choose the security type > add the template name > provide the the file and click next.

Wait for a moment while Carta's AI reads the document and places the variable on all the right places.

Once done, make sure that spousal consent related fields are selected. This is key for the spouse to be able to sign the document through Carta.

While reviewing you can click on each page of the document and see how it will look like

Once ready, click Save document set below.

Once the holder accepts the security through Carta, they will be able to add their spouse information.

Add spouse information.

Accept the security.

Once that's done, the spouse will get a one-time login via email.

They will then fill out their information, as it was added to the document set.

Finally, once that's done, the holder gets an email confirming their spouse has finished signing the document via Carta.

Who is this available to?

Fillable templates are available to all company admins on Carta.