Copeland v. Copeland’s Empirical Analysis
1978
Citation profile
72 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 75 later decisions — most recently September 2012 · most notably 586 So. 2d 118 - Hare v. Hodgins (1991), Hurley v. Hurley (1980)
72 state decisions — followed in 12 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on 15 Cal. 3d 838 - In Re Marriage of Brown · 3 Cal. 3d 32 - Phillipson v. Board of Administration, Public Employees' Retirement System · 17 Cal. 2d 775 - French v. French · Cearley v. Cearley · LeClert v. LeClert
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 75 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"It would appear that a flexible approach to this problem is needed. The trial court should make a determination of the present value of the unmatured pension benefits with a division of assets which includes this amount, or divide the pension on a `pay as it comes in' system. This way, if the community has sufficient assets to cover the value of the pension, an immediate division would make a final disposition; but, if the pension is the only valuable asset of the community and the employee spouse could not afford to deliver either goods or property worth the other spouse's interest, then the trial court may award the non-employee spouse his/her portion as the benefits are paid." 575 P.2d at 104 .”
4 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Ruggles v. Ruggles · Shill v. Shill“"was compelled by the inequitable division of property when a marriage of substantial length breaks up and the major asset is a pension plan which has been acquired during the marriage but has not yet matured, i.e., is not subject to immediate disbursement." Copeland v. Copeland, 91 N.M. 409 , 575 P.2d 99, 101 (1978).”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Shill v. Shill“The cases are in agreement that at the time of the divorce the court must place a value on the pension rights and include it in the entire assets, then make a distribution of the assets equitably.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Madrid v. Madrid
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.