Annulment

Getting an annulment, or what is sometimes called a “judgment of nullity,” is different from a divorce. A divorce recognizes that the parties were married but that the marriage has come to an end. An annulment, by contrast, is designed to nullify the marriage—that is, to declare that the marriage never existed.

The difference between divorce and annulment has significant consequences. For example, a party getting divorced might be required to pay alimony or to divide marital property. However, a party obtaining an annulment has no obligation to pay alimony or to divide marital property since an annulment means there was no marriage in the first place. Of course, family courts are “courts of equity,” and they will attempt to achieve equitable results, regardless of whether the case is a divorce or an annulment. Therefore, if property belongs to both parties, even if the marriage was not valid, it may be distributed in some form, or in some method, as a part of an annulment.

The grounds for annulment vary from state to state. In most places, a marriage can be annulled if either of the parties had another wife or husband living at the time they got married to each other. Similarly, most states will annul a marriage between a man and his sister, his aunt or his niece, as well as a marriage between a women and her brother, or her nephew or her uncle.

In many places, a marriage can be annulled if either of the parties is considered physically and incurably impotent, provided that the party seeking annulment had been ignorant of the condition at the time of marriage. This ground for annulment may not be available if the party seeking annulment has ratified the marriage after the fact.

In some cases, the court will grant an annulment if one of the parties was so inebriated by alcohol or so under the influence of drugs or other substances as to lack the mental awareness of the fact that he or she was getting married. Where a person, due to such a mental condition, lacks the legal capacity to marry, the law may grant relief. Likewise, if a person gets married under such pressure, under duress, or fraud, so that the marriage is not technically a voluntary act, he or she may be eligible for an annulment based on a lack of mutual assent.

In some jurisdictions, a marriage may be annulled if one of the parties is under eighteen years of age at the time of marriage (or some other age limit), unless the marriage is later confirmed by that person after arriving at the requisite age.