ANNULMENT
A judgment by a court that retroactively invalidates a marriage to the date of its formation.
An annulment differs from a DIVORCE,a court order that terminates a marriage, since it is
a judicial statement that there was never a marriage. A divorce, which can only take place where there has been a valid marriage, means that the two parties are no longer HUSBAND AND WIFE once the decree is issued. An annulment means that the individuals were never united in marriage as husband and wife.
Various religions have different methods for obtaining a church divorce, or annulment, but these procedures have no legal force or effect upon a marriage that complied with the requirements of law. Such a marriage must be legally annulled.
History
English COMMON LAW did not provide for annulment. Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, the only courts in England with the power
to annul an invalid marriage, when fairness
mandated it, were the ecclesiastical courts. There
was no statute that provided relief of this kind.
Northeastern American colonies passed laws
enabling courts or legislatures to grant annulments,
while other colonies adhered more
closely to English traditions. The American tradition
of keeping church and state separate precluded
the establishment of ecclesiastical courts
in the United States. Following the American
Revolution, the civil courts in a majority of
states never assumed that they had the authority
to hear annulment cases.
A number of states eventually enacted laws
authorizing annulment in recognition of the
belief that it is unfair to require people to fulfill
marital duties when a marriage is invalid.
Currently, most states have annulment
statutes. In states that do not, courts declare that
no marriage exists if the laws regulating marriage
have not been observed.
An annulment declares that a marriage,
which appears to be valid, is actually invalid.
Two kinds of invalid marriages exist: void marriages
and voidable marriages. A void marriage is
one that was invalid from its very beginning
and, therefore, could never lawfully exist in any
way. The major grounds for a void marriage are
INCEST, bigamy, and lack of consent. Once these
grounds are established, the court will grant a
decree of annulment.
A VOIDABLE marriage is one that can be
declared illegal but that continues as valid until
an annulment is sought. The annulment takes
effect only from the time a court renders its
decision.
Grounds
State law governs the grounds for annulling
a voidable marriage. Couples should not be obligated
by the serious duties incident to marriage
if both parties did not genuinely intend to be
married.
FRAUD is the most prevalent ground for
annulment. The MISREPRESENTATION, whether
by lies or concealment of the truth, must
encompass something directly pertinent to the
marriage, such as religion, children, or sex,
which society considers the foundation of a
marital relationship.
Physical or emotional conditions may also be
grounds for annulment, particularly when they
interfere with sexual relations or procreation.
Other health conditions providing grounds
for annulment include alcoholism, incurable
insanity, and epilepsy. The mere existence of one
of these conditions is a sufficient ground for an
annulment in some states, whereas in others, an
annulment may be obtained for fraud if such a
condition was concealed.
Courts may also annul marriages that
involved lack of consent, mistake, or duress.
Lack of consent might arise if one party were
senile, drunk, underage, or suffering from serious
mental illness, or if there was no genuine
intent to marry. A mistake as to some essential
element of the marriage may also justify an
annulment, for example, if the couple mistakenly
believed that one party’s insanity or impotence
had been cured. Duress arises when one
party compels the other to marry against his or
her will.
Consequences
State law governs the consequences of an
annulment. Customarily, an annulment was a
court declaration that no marriage had ever
existed, but this created various problems. If a
marriage was dissolved by divorce, the children
of the marriage were legitimate and the parent
awarded custody could be awarded ALIMONY. No
such provisions, however,were made in an annulment.
A majority of states have rectified this situation
by statutory provisions. In most states,
children of voidable, and sometimes void, marriages
are legitimate. In addition, some states provide
for alimony and property settlements upon
the granting of an annulment. Several other jurisdictions
allow their courts to devise a fair allocation
of property where necessary and equitable.
FURTHER READINGS
Escalera, Steve. 2000. “California Marital Annulments.” The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues 11 (spring): 153–8.
Nelson,William T. 2000. A Treatise on the Law of Divorce and Annulment of Marriage: Including the Adjustment of Property Rights upon Divorce, the Procedure in Suits for Divorce, and the Validity and Extraterritorial Effect of
Decrees of Divorce. Holmes Beach, Fla.: Gaunt.
