What happens in Vegas is front page news if you’re actor Nicolas Cage. Four days after the ‘Family Man’ married Erika Koike, he was no longer ‘Moonstruck’. The ‘Wild at Heart’ husband was in court trying to undo his four-day marriage. Does he divorce or annul?
Face Off
In filing his request for an annulment of his four-day marriage to Erika Koike, Nicolas Cage cited Koike’s “criminal history” as one of the factors fueling his decision.
The actor, 55 and his new bride, 34, a makeup artist, had been dating for over a year when they filed for a marriage license in Las Vegas on March 23.
Cage filed for the annulment four days later claiming that he was too drunk to comprehend what he was doing when they were married — and that he was unaware of Koike’s criminal record at the time.
Florida Divorce and Annulment
What if this four-day marriage took place in Florida? I’ve written about divorce and annulment in Florida before. Florida does not have an annulment statute. The decision to divorce or annul a marriage will depend on certain facts.
Annulment has a history beginning in England, and if King Henry VIII had been able to secure an annulment from the Pope, England might have remained a Catholic country. Today, annulment may best be known for rescuing Britney Spears from an ill-advised alcohol-related Las Vegas “bender.”
Because Florida is one of the handful of states that has no annulment statute, annulments in Florida are purely a question of common law, decided pursuant to the inherent equitable powers of the circuit court.
The historical common law “impediments” to marriage traditionally fell into two general categories: lack of consent and lack of capacity. This is substantially still the case law in Florida.
Lack of consent would include, for example, people who are related within certain degrees, and minors without parental consent.
Lack of capacity, is exactly the situation Nicolas Cage is claiming (I was too drunk to comprehend what I got married) Lack of capacity includes marriages involving fraud, mental illness, sham marriages, and shotgun weddings.
Con Air
What about the issue of her lying about her criminal history? That may be ‘Snake Eyes.’His new wife, Koike, pled no contest to two DUI charges in Los Angeles in 2008 and 2011, according to documents obtained by The Blast.
Koike was put on probation and sentenced to perform community service and to attend AA meetings. She also had to attend an 18-month alcohol and other drug education and counseling program.
Koike was also charged with one DUI in Las Vegas in 2016 and domestic violence against her then-husband in 2006. Regarding the 2016 DUI, Koike pled not guilty. She’s due back in court in June.
Koike’s 2006 arrest for domestic violence was dismissed for lack of evidence and she later filed for a protective order from her then-husband. The couple officially divorced in 2014.
Cage also claims that there are grounds for annulment since Koike didn’t disclose to him the full nature and extent of her relationship with another person.
The makeup artist was also accused of being involved in an altercation with a neighbor in 2015. According to court documents, Koike’s neighbor sued her for assault and battery in 2016, claiming that Koike punched her in the face in a dark parking lot. That lawsuit was dismissed.
The People article is here.