TO: Professor Wright
FROM: #35
RE: Discussion II
DATE: September 27, 2014
Our client, Kim Karda, met Kris Humfrey in 2004. They married, in New Jersey, in January 2009. In May 2010, Karda gave birth to a baby girl. Several months later, the child was diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease (TSD), a debilitating hereditary disease that always results in death. Upon the child’s diagnosis, Karda learned that she and Humfrey were both carriers of the TSD gene. The child died on February 15, 2014. On March 15, 2014, Karda discovered that Humfrey knew he was a TSD carrier at the time of marriage and withheld this fact. Karda hired our firm in August 2014 and is seeking an annulment on the grounds that Humfrey’s concealment that he was a diagnosed …show more content…
Karda will likely be granted an annulment under New Jersey law because Humfrey’s concealment that he was a diagnosed TSD carrier constitutes fraud as to the essentials of marriage and because she did not ratify the marriage after discovery.

In New Jersey, judgment of nullity of marriage may be rendered in all cases, when:
The parties, or either of them, lacked capacity to marry due to want of understanding because of mental condition, or the influence of intoxicants, drugs, or similar agents; or where there was a lack of mutual assent to the marital relationship; duress; or fraud as to the essentials of marriage; and has not subsequently ratified the marriage.

N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:34-1. Lack of capacity, lack of mutual assent, and duress are not at issue. The two issues remaining are: (A) whether Humfrey’s concealment of the fact that he was a diagnosed TSD carrier at the time of marriage is fraud as to the essentials of marriage, and (B) whether Karda ratified the marriage after discovering the fraud.
A. Humfrey’s concealment of the fact that he was a diagnosed TSD carrier from Karda at the time of marriage likely constitutes a fraud as to the essentials of …show more content…
Since March 15, 2014, Karda and Humfrey have fought constantly. They have continued to cohabitate because Humfrey has refused to move out. They have had no sexual intercourse and sleep in separate rooms. They no longer maintain a joint checking account. Aside from shared housing expenses, Karda supports herself by working as a receptionist. She plans to move out as soon as she is financially able to do so. Thus, unlike Donati, where the wife was financially dependent on her husband, and sought an annulment only after he lost his job, Karda’s actions were not driven by a desire to affirm the marriage, and, as such, there is likely no