In Re Marriage of Chambers

Opinion

WIENER, Acting P. J.

In Henn v. Henn (1980) 26 Cal.3d 323 [161 Cal.Rptr. 502, 605 P.2d 10] the California Supreme Court held the doc trines of res judicata and collateral estoppel did not bar a spouse from recovering his or her community interest in the vested and matured military pension benefits omitted from the petition and later judgment of dissolution of marriage. The Henn court qualified full retroactive enforcement of such rights, however, by allowing the military retiree to raise the defenses of equitable estoppel and laches. (Id. at pp. 332-333.) In such cases the trial court…