Annulment

 

Though often confused with divorce, an annulment is when a marriage is declared to be invalid. This means that at the time the marriage was formed, the marriage was invalid due to one of several reasons and a court can annul the marriage.  In a divorce, at the time the marriage is formed, the marriage is valid and the spouses wish to terminate a valid marriage.

A marriage may be annulled for one of several reasons. Grounds for annulment can be one of the following:

  1. Bigamy - which is when one of the parties is already married to another person;
  2. Incest - which applies when the parties are too closely related by blood;
  3. Lack of Consent - which is when one of the parties lacked the ability to consent to the marriage or did not freely consent to enter the marriage;
  4. Fraud - if the marriage was entered into only for the purpose of obtaining citizenship or under false pretenses;
  5. Underage - if one or both of the parties are under the age of 18 or in the alternative, under the age of 16 with the consent of a parent or guardian;
  6. Impotence - if one of the parties does not give the other party knowledge that he or she is incurably physically impotent.

When a marriage is annulled it is considered to never have existed. For this reason, it is usually not possible to receive a settlement of property division or alimony after obtaining an annulment. In essence, the courts attempt to place the parties in the same positions they were in before they entered the invalid marriage.

If you have any questions regarding an Annulment, please do not hesitate to contact our office so that we may advise you regarding your rights and remedies in obtaining an Annulment.

 

                    

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