Marriage of Jones

Sumiko (plaintiff) and Herschel Jones (defendant), married since 1964, saw Herschel, who had been in military service since 1957, become fully disabled through loss of a limb in 1969, and he was discharged with $379.12 monthly disability pay, having no vested right to any retirement pay independent of that disability-based payment. The parties divorced in 1972, and Sumiko sought to have Herschel's lifetime disability payments declared a community-property asset; the trial court found no community-property interest in disability payments received after the marriage and denied her petition. Sumiko appealed.