In In re Marriage of Lucero (1981) 118 Cal. App. 3d 836, the parties were married in 1956. During the marriage, the husband worked for the federal government. In 1966, he withdrew his retirement contributions and spent the money for community purposes. In 1976, the couple separated. The husband retired one year later. Using separate property, he redeposited the funds previously withdrawn ($ 9,373) to receive a 30-year pension (20 years of which was earned during the marriage). The trial court determined that the community interest in the husband's pension extended only to the benefits that would have been received absent the redeposit of funds. The Court of Appeal reversed, concluding that the wife had a right to share in the increased retirement benefits upon payment of her pro rata share of the redeposit. The court reasoned: "To allow husband the sole right to decide whether to redeposit and the sole right to elect whether to redeposit with separate or community funds is to treat the redeposit right as husband's separate property. This is incorrect because the redeposit right is a pension right and 'the community owns all pension rights attributable to employment during the marriage.'" (Lucero, supra, 118 Cal. App. 3d at pp. 841-842.) Accordingly, the appellate court modified the judgment to require the wife to pay a pro rata share of the amount the husband had redeposited ($ 3,154 of $ 9,373) and award the wife one-half of the pension accumulated during the parties' marriage. (Id. at p. 845.)