Callahan v. Callahan’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In a contested divorce, equity requires that the family court distribute only the part of a spouse’s pension that accrued during the period of the marriage. The portion of the entitlement acquired during the marriage is calculated by factoring in the so-called coverture fraction. Where, as here, the parties voluntarily agree to an apportionment of a spouse’s pension, however, the court must enforce the plain language of the agreement. The pension provision in the stipulation plainly reads: “25% of [husband’s] monthly pension income shall be paid to [wife]” without reference to the length of the marriage or any applicable coverture fraction. Thus, it was reasonable for the court to determine that wife is entitled to receive 25% of husband’s gross retirement pay, and we will not disturb its order.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Spencer v. Spencer