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. |