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What different kinds
of Domestic Relations actions can be filed in Kansas?
The kinds of domestic relations actions
available depend upon whether the relationship is marital non-marital.
Marital
Relationships:
There are three different domestic relations
actions that can be filed in Kansas between married persons. Each of the marital actions
that can be filed affects the status of the parties’ relationship in
different ways. In addition, persons who are not married
but have been living together may seek the court’s assistance
to divide property accumulated by them in certain situations. This FAQ
addresses marital causes of action:
Divorce.
The first kind of action is the most commonly known. It is the
"divorce."
A divorce requests that the marriage of the
parties to the action be dissolved. A divorce presumes that the marriage of
the parties is valid and that there will be no marital
relationship between the parties after the requested order is granted. This
action also requests that the court make orders regarding property and debt
division, child custody, residency, parenting time, third party visitation and child and spousal support issues, if
those are appropriately before the Court.
Separate maintenance. The second kind of action is a "separate
maintenance" action.
The “separate maintenance” action
is a form of what is commonly known as a "legal separation." A
separate maintenance action does not dissolve the parties' marriage, but
does request that the court issue various orders regarding property and
debt division, child custody, visitation and support and spousal support
issues. The separate maintenance action is basically a holdover from
earlier times when divorces were more difficult to obtain. It is not commonly filed and may increase costs. If a
separate maintenance action is filed by one party and the other party
requests a divorce, the court must grant the divorce rather than the
separate maintenance request.
Annulment. The third kind of domestic relations action is an
"annulment."
An annulment can be requested no matter
how long or short two people have been married, so long as the requirements
of the statute are met. An annulment may be obtained
if the marriage is either "void" or "voidable." In other words, the court may grant the parties an annulment if
the parties either could not have become legally married in the first place
(such as because they were too close in family relationship or there was
some legal prohibition on the parties becoming married) — a
"void" marriage — or if there was some significant fact about
which one or both parties did not have knowledge that existed at the time
of the marriage which would have led that person not to enter into the
marriage or if there was some other defect in the parties' marriage other
than a prohibition on their marrying — a "voidable"
marriage.
Non-Marital
Relationships:
Although an unmarried couple cannot obtain a
“divorce,” Kansas
law provides that the courts may determine the equitable division of
property between the cohabitants if they cannot agree on the way they
should divide the property they accumulated.
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