RoundUps are an entirely different thing. The ExDate is STILL the only thing that matters....for now anyway. Under extreme circumstances (GVRP for instance), they will 'backdate' the ExDate, and slime their way out of a huge mess........z
record date makes sense... if you own the stock as of a certain date... record date... then you get dividend... as far as holding thru the payment or ex-div date, I'm not sure if you have to or not... but why would ex-date mean anything... ex-date is too late... you need to own it sooner