Pickard v. Pickard

625 S.E.2d 869 (N.C. App. 2006)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Hawk Littlejohn ('Littlejohn'), a Cherokee Indian, married P and D in the Native American tradition on 7 June 1991. W initially desired to be married in a traditional Christian ceremony. H persuaded W to be married in the Cherokee tradition with Littlejohn performing the ceremony. When Littlejohn performed the wedding ceremony, both the parties believed the ceremony was legally sufficient to bind them as husband and wife. Littlejohn conducted the parties' ceremony in accordance with the Cherokee marriage tradition. The parties received a North Carolina license and certificate of marriage on 3 December 2002, which was filed in the Caswell County Register of Deeds office. For the next eleven years, the parties lived together and conducted themselves as husband and wife. On 9 April 2002, the parties separated and H filed a complaint for annulment of his eleven-year marriage. The trial court filed a judgment concluding that the marriage ceremony was not properly solemnized because Littlejohn was not qualified to perform a marriage ceremony. The court denied H's claim for annulment because H had asserted under oath, judicially admitted and proved his marriage to W in an adoption proceeding. H appealed, and W argues cross-assignments of error.