Pickard v. Pickard
Court of Appeals of North Carolina
625 S.E.2d 869 (N.C. App. 2006)
Carl and Jane Pickard were married in a Native American ceremony performed by Hawk Littlejohn, who held only a mail-order ordination from the Universal Life Church, though the couple also obtained a state marriage license and lived as husband and wife for 11 years, during which Carl swore under oath in an adoption proceeding that he was lawfully married to Jane. After the marriage deteriorated, Carl sought an annulment; the trial court found the ceremony had not been properly solemnized because Littlejohn was unqualified to perform it, but held Carl was judicially estopped from claiming his marriage was voidable given his prior sworn statement, and Carl appealed while Jane cross-appealed.
Whether a petition for annulment may be denied on judicial estoppel grounds when the petitioner's initial claim of being lawfully married is inconsistent with a later position, acceptance of that inconsistency threatens judicial integrity, and the petitioner would otherwise gain an unfair advantage or impose an unfair detriment.