Brown v. Brown

Opinion

TOBRINER, J.

Since French v. French (1941) 17 Cal.2d 775, 778 [112 P.2d 235, 134 A.L.R. 366], California courts have held that nonvested pension rights are not property, but a mere expectancy, and thus not a community asset subject to division upon dissolution of a marriage. Two years ago we granted a hearing in In re Marriage of Wilson (1974) 10 Cal.3d 851 [112 Cal.Rptr. 405, 519 P.2d 165], to reconsider “the current viability of the rule of French v. French” (10 Cal.3d at p. 853), but upon examination of the record in Wilson we discovered that the French issue had been waived by the…