Annulment

Annulment occurs when a court decides that a marriage was never legally valid. Annulments are also sought through religious tribunals, but only a court of law can declare a marriage legally invalid. Civil annulments can be granted for a variety of reasons, including incest, fraud, insanity, bigamy and active substance abuse, but they are not granted when one spouse simply begins to dislike the other spouse.

A civil annulment is less complicated than a divorce due to the fact that annulment eradicates the legal basis of a marriage, meaning that alimony and division of marital assets never comes into play. However, state laws concerning issues such as cohabitation can affect a court’s annulment ruling. Annulment laws vary by country and state. In most states, a petition for annulment must be filed within two years of the marriage date.