When can a marriage be annulled?

Answer 1

Annulments can be a complicated and confusing process and unfortunately, thee are no set standards to help you determine whether or not it will be granted. There is generally no set time limit after which you cannot get a marriage annulled, but the grounds for annulment become harder to prove over time. Additionally, annulments are best suited for short marriages (usually weeks or months) because those unions generally do not involve joint assets to divide or children.

Answer 2

Yes, a Catholic marriage can be annulled under specific conditions.

Roman Catholic AnswerOne clarification, for those who are not completely clear on what an annulment is: An annulment is a declaration by the Church that a marriage contract was invalid and consequently is null and void. A court ruling on an annulment can only look at what took place prior to the wedding, and the wedding itself to see if a valid marriage contract took effect between two baptised Christians. The Church cannot annul a valid marriage.

Answer 3

A civil annulment is a decree that the marriage is deemed never to have existed (in legal terms, it is null and void). This differs from a divorce, which terminates a valid marriage. There are both religious and civil annulments.

The grounds for an ecclesiastical annulment are similar to the grounds for a civil annulment. A Catholic annulment, also known as a declaration of nullity or invalidity, is a statement of fact by the Catholic Church that a valid marriage, as defined by the Church, never existed. There was some defect or lack of intention.Catholic annulments make no provisions for the custody or support of the children. They allow a parishioner to get married in the Church again even though they were married in the Church and children were born of the first marriage. The reason annulments are available is that remarriage is not allowed by church law unless the first spouse has died. Ecclesiastical annulments are most common in the United States.

United States

Marriage is a civil legal status in the United States and clergy, among many other minor and major officials including any person who obtains a one day permit, are allowed to solemnize the marriage. The couple must obtain a civil marriage license or the marriage is not valid. Accordingly, an ecclesiastical annulment of a marriage must be legally perfected by a civil divorce decree or the couple remains legally married.

Civil annulments are available in family court if the requirements are met and a divorce procedure is not necessary in order to dissolve the marriage legally. Civil annulments address parental responsibilities and custody when there are children involved. They also make a division of the property.

Grounds for a civil (and ecclesiastical) annulment vary but can include the following:

• lack of legal capacity
• force or threat
• under age of consent
• consanguinity- too closely related
• impotency not disclosed before marriage
• fraud
• marriage never consummated
• duress, insanity
• being under the influence of alcohol or drugs

You need to check the laws in your particular state. Laws regarding civil annulment vary from state to state. Some states do not allow annulment if there are children born of the marriage. That makes sense because the couple can dissolve the marriage by a divorce proceeding. Every state has statutory reasons why a court can declare a marriage null and void. The court in states that allow civil annulment with children may look more closely at those reasons if there were children born of the marriage since declaring a marriage null and void may have some emotional or social effect on the children. If there are children involved, the annulment does not make them "illegitimate" and the court will issue custody and child support orders.