Kardashian divorce delayed til next year

By Alan Duke, CNN

updated 6:28 AM EDT, Thu August 16, 2012

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Delays in deposing Kanye West and other witnesses in the divorce of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries mean the 72-day marriage may not legally end until next year, lawyers said at a hearing Wednesday.

Humphries, an NBA forward, accuses Kardashian, a reality TV star, of fraud by entering the marriage only to make millions of dollars with their wedding, Humphries' lawyer, Marshall Waller, told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephen Moloney.

The August 20, 2011, wedding was aired in October on E! Entertainment in a two-part special titled "Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event." Kardashian filed for divorce at the end of October.

"Ms. Kardashian had no intention of going through with the marriage," Waller said. "The wedding was simply for the benefit of her television show."

Humphries is asking for an annulment of the marriage instead of a divorce.

"To what end does he want this annulment?" Kardashian lawyer Laura Wasser asked in court Wednesday.

Wasser accused Waller of dragging his feet in making his case with vague charges. Kardashian's legal fees have already reached $250,000, which Wasser said she will try to force Humphries to pay. "We're going to ask for every penny to be paid by Kris," she said.

Humphries' case is taking longer to build because of delays in getting documents from NBC Universal and Bunim/Murray Productions, two companies involved in the wedding broadcast, Waller said.

"I'm trying to find information out and somebody is trying to stop me," he said.

The deposition of Kardashian will not happen until after Humphries' lawyers have reviewed the production documents, Waller said.

Kris Jenner, Kardashian's mother, is among the 33 people listed as witnesses by Humphries. While she has accepted a subpoena, she will not be questioned until Humphries' lawyer gets her business records, Waller said.

Kanye West, Kardashian's current boyfriend, could be a key witness in the divorce trial, but the hip-hop star has so far evaded Humphries' efforts to subpoena him for a deposition, Waller said.

Kardashian answered the door at her Los Angeles home on July 16 when a process server knocked and said told her he had something for West, Waller said. "She said he was on phone and she wouldn't accept it, so he left it," he said.

West was not there at the time, Kardashian lawyer Laura Wasser said. The server -- who she described as "a strange individual" -- left the subpoena in a Nordstrom department store box, she said.

Efforts to reach West though his lawyer and publicist have been unsuccessful, Waller said.

Humphries' girlfriend will be deposed by Kardashian's lawyers in New York Tuesday, Wasser said. The lawyer did not name the girlfriend in court.

Judge Moloney set the next hearing for November 28. A trial date of early 2013 may be set then, he said.