Kris Humphries, Kim Kardashian, & Annulment v. Divorce

The quickly dissolving, 72-day marriage between Brooklyn Nets player Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian has caused ample buzz in the media: not only is Kardashian now pregnant with Kanye West’s baby, but Humphries is refusing to agree to the divorce. The basketball player has recently filed a motion to put off their divorce proceedings, which Kardashian famously filed for a year ago. Instead, Humphries adamantly feels their marriage should be annulled.

Annulment vs. Divorce

So, what’s the big deal? Why is Humphries urging for an annulment, rather than simply agree to Kardashian’s demands for a divorce? According to People magazine, Humphries wants an annulment because he never wanted to be married more than once and feels that Kardashian destroyed their chance of having a lasting marriage.

Unlike a divorce, which is the legal dissolution of a marriage, an annulment establishes that a marriage is not legally valid. It essentially erases a union rather than dissolving one. Because an annulment finds that a marriage was never certified, it would enable Humphries to separate from Kardashian without having to be married more than once, as he desires.

There are multiple ways one can get an annulment, including proving that one of the following occurred:

  • Bigamy- one of the parties to the marriage was still married to someone else at the time of the second marriage
  • One spouse was incurably unable to engage in sexual intercourse at the time of the marriage
  • After the marriage took place, one party became incurably insane for 5 or more years
  • One spouse is unable to understand the nature of a legal marriage due to a lack of mental capacity
  • One party entered the marriage because of force or duress exerted by the other person
  • The marriage was fraudulent, meaning consent to marry was obtained through fraudulent means that involved the deception of one party

Kardashian & Humphrie’s Divorce

Kardashian says she wanted a divorce rather than an annulment because her attorneys advised her that a divorce would be best, but she also would be happy to have her and Humphries’ marriage annulled. A judge will have to decide which will be allowed. Although Humphries is a player for our local (and favorite) team, the Brooklyn Nets, the case will be carried out in California, where the law similarly enables an annulment to be granted if the court finds that no valid marriage ever occurred.

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