You’re staring at your wedding ring and wondering if there is a "delete" button. Most people think an annulment is just a faster, cleaner version of a divorce. It isn't. Not even close. If you’re asking yourself, can I get an annulment, you’re essentially asking the court to pretend your marriage never happened in the first place. It’s a legal time machine. But the law is picky about who gets to use it.
Divorce says the marriage was valid but it’s over now. Annulment says the marriage was void from the jump.
It’s rare. In many states, the number of annulments granted each year is a tiny fraction of total divorces. Why? Because the burden of proof is high. You can’t just say "we made a mistake" or "he’s a jerk." You have to prove that the foundation of the union was illegal or based on a massive lie. It’s messy, complicated, and honestly, sometimes way harder than just getting a standard divorce.
Why "Can I Get an Annulment?" is the Wrong Question
The better question is: "Does my marriage actually exist in the eyes of the law?"
Most people assume that if they’ve only been married for seventy-two hours, they can just walk into a courthouse and get an annulment. That’s a total myth fueled by Vegas movies and celebrity gossip. Time has almost nothing to do with it. You could be married for ten years and get an annulment, or be married for ten minutes and be forced to get a divorce.
The law looks for specific "grounds." Without one of these, you’re stuck with the standard divorce track.
The Big Red Flags: Void vs. Voidable
Lawyers break these down into two buckets. Void marriages are those that were never legal to begin with. Think bigamy or incest. If your spouse was already married to someone else when you said "I do," your marriage is void. It never existed. You don't even technically need an annulment for these, though getting a court order helps clear up the paperwork for the future.
Voidable marriages are different. These are marriages that are valid unless one person challenges them. This is where most people live. This includes things like fraud, duress, or being under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the ceremony.
Fraud: The Most Common (and Hardest) Ground
"He told me he wanted kids, and now he says he doesn't."
Is that fraud? Usually, no.
To get an annulment based on fraud, the lie has to go to the "heart of the marriage." We’re talking about things like a spouse hiding the fact that they are sterile, or someone marrying you solely to get a green card without any intent of ever living as a couple.
In the California case In re Marriage of Meagher and Maleki (2005), the court ruled that even a spouse lying about their financial wealth wasn't enough for an annulment. The court basically said that being a gold-digger isn't illegal enough to erase a marriage. It has to be something that makes the actual union impossible or fundamentally different from what was promised.
The Specific Grounds You Need to Know
If you're serious about this, you need to see if you fit into one of these narrow boxes.
- Bigamy: This is the easiest one. If your spouse has a secret family in another state and never divorced their first partner, your marriage is dead on arrival.
- Incest: If you find out you’re related to your spouse (closer than most states allow, usually first cousins or closer), the state won't recognize the union.
- Underage: If one person was under the legal age of consent and didn't have parental or court permission, the marriage can be voided. However, if you stay married until you both hit the legal age, you might "ratify" the marriage, losing your chance to annul it.
- Mental Incapacity: Was one person so drunk they didn't know they were at an altar? Did they have a severe mental illness that prevented them from understanding the contract? This is a "capacity" issue.
- Force or Duress: If there was a metaphorical (or literal) shotgun at the wedding, the marriage isn't valid. You have to enter a marriage of your own free will.
- Inability to Consummate: This one sounds medieval, but it’s still on the books in most places. If one spouse is physically unable to have intercourse and didn't tell the other person before the wedding, that's grounds. It’s not about not wanting to; it’s about the physical ability.
The Religious Annulment Confusion
This is where a lot of people get tripped up. A Catholic annulment is not a legal annulment.
The Church has its own process through a tribunal. They might grant you an annulment so you can remarry within the Church, but the government of Florida or New York couldn't care less. You still need a civil divorce or a civil annulment to be legally single.
Conversely, getting a legal annulment from a judge doesn't mean the Church recognizes it. They are two completely separate tracks. If you want both, you have to do the work twice. It’s an exhausting process that requires different types of evidence and testimony.
Why Choose Annulment Over Divorce?
If it's so hard, why do people bother?
Money and religion are the big drivers. In an annulment, because the marriage "never happened," there is usually no alimony. There is no "community property" to split in the same way because there was no community.
Some people also have deep-seated moral or religious objections to being a "divorcee." Being "never married" feels different. It carries less perceived "baggage" for some.
But be careful. If you’ve been together a long time and have kids, an annulment can complicate things like child support and custody. The court will still protect the children—annulment doesn't make children "illegitimate" in the eyes of modern law—but it can make the division of assets a nightmare. Instead of family law, you're suddenly dealing with contract law and property disputes.
The "Statute of Limitations" Problem
You can't wait forever.
In many jurisdictions, if you discover the fraud and keep living with the person for a year, you’ve "waived" your right. You basically told the state, "Yeah, they lied, but I'm cool with it." Once you ratify the marriage by staying, your only way out is the divorce court.
The Procedural Nightmare
You don't just fill out a form.
You have to file a petition, just like a divorce, but then you usually have to go to a hearing and present actual evidence. You might need witnesses. You might need medical records if you’re claiming incapacity. You might need a private investigator’s report if you’re claiming bigamy.
It is an adversarial process. If your spouse fights it, it becomes a full-blown trial. They might want a divorce instead of an annulment because they want a share of your 401k or alimony. Since an annulment wipes those rights away, they have a huge financial incentive to prove the marriage was valid.
What Happens to Your Last Name?
When a marriage is annulled, you generally go back to your "maiden" or prior name immediately. Since the marriage is erased, the name change associated with it is often treated as if it never should have happened.
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Social Security, the DMV, and the passport office will all need to see the certified decree of annulment. It's a lot of legwork.
Actionable Steps if You Want an Annulment
If you genuinely believe you qualify for an annulment, don't just stop at a Google search. The laws vary wildly between states like Nevada (notoriously "easy" but still strict) and states like New York.
1. Secure Evidence of the Grounds Immediately
If you found out your spouse is still married to someone else, get a copy of that other marriage certificate. If it's fraud, save the texts, emails, or documents that prove the lie was told before the wedding.
2. Check Your State’s Time Limits
Look up the "Statute of Limitations" for annulment in your specific state. Some grounds, like "underage," have very short windows. Others, like "bigamy," might not have a limit at all because the marriage was never legal to begin with.
3. Do Not "Ratify" the Marriage
If you want out based on fraud or incapacity, stop living with the person the moment you find out. If you continue to share a bed or a bank account, a judge will likely rule that you’ve accepted the situation, and your annulment case will be tossed.
4. Consult a Family Law Attorney (Not Just a Generalist)
Annulments are technical. You need someone who has specifically handled them before, not just someone who does "standard" no-fault divorces. Ask them specifically about the "burden of proof" in your county.
5. Prepare for the "Divorce" Backup
Most lawyers will file for "Annulment or, in the alternative, Divorce." This ensures that if the judge says "No" to the annulment, you aren't stuck being married to the person forever. You just transition into a standard divorce case.
6. Consider the Financial Fallout
Talk to a financial planner. If you annul a ten-year marriage (which is rare but possible), you might lose rights to Social Security benefits or pension shares that you would have kept in a divorce. Sometimes, a divorce is actually the better financial move, even if the annulment feels "cleaner" emotionally.
The path to an annulment is narrow and full of hurdles. It isn't a shortcut for people who have "buyer's remorse" after an expensive wedding. It is a legal tool for those who were genuinely deceived or forced into a union that the law refuses to recognize. If you fit the criteria, it’s a powerful way to reclaim your legal status as "single" rather than "divorced." But if you don't, you need to prepare for the reality of a standard dissolution of marriage.