Divorce or Annulment—Which Is Right for You?

What’s the Difference? When Can You Annul a Marriage?

Your marriage has broken down and there appears to be no way to salvage it. You may have already considered filing for divorce, but you’ve also heard the term “annulment.” What is that? How does it differ from divorce? In what circumstances can you seek to annul a marriage? If you are able to do either, how do you decide which is right for you?

What’s the Difference Between Divorce and Annulment?

The objective and end-result of both divorce and annulment is the termination of a legal marriage. With a divorce, however, there’s an acknowledgement that a legal marriage existed. The divorce dissolves the legal marriage. With an annulment, on the other hand, there is a declaration that the marriage never existed. When an annulment is ordered, both parties are returned to their status before the marriage, without any rights or obligations based on the marriage.

It’s important to understand that an annulment can have religious implications. For example, some religions limit the worship rights of people who are divorced but not those whose marriage has been annulled.

How Do You Qualify for an Annulment?

Though the laws vary somewhat from state to state, most jurisdictions allow parties to annul a marriage under the following circumstances:

• One of the parties to the marriage entered into it as the result of fraud or misrepresentation, i.e., they were tricked into getting married—This may involve intentionally false statements or nondisclosure of certain issues, such as substance abuse, criminal behavior or convictions, children from a prior relationship, or certain types of diseases.
• The marriage is bigamous—One of the parties was already legally married at the time of the marriage sought to be annulled.
• The parties were too closely related to get married—This generally involves allegations of incest.
• The marriage was not physically consummated—The parties never engaged in sexual intercourse.
• One of the parties was not of legal age to marry.
• One of the parties lacked the mental capacity to legally consent to the marriage.

How Does the Process for Obtaining an Annulment Differ From That of Getting a Divorce?

With a divorce, there are a number of issues that may need to be resolved: custody and visitation, spousal support (alimony), and the division of marital property. With an annulment, the court rules on only one thing—whether the marriage should be treated as if it never happened. An annulment confers no rights or responsibilities on either party. It merely returns them to the position they were in before the marriage took place.

How Do You Decide Which Is Right for You?

Even though you might qualify for an annulment, there may be good reasons to file for divorce instead:

• If you have a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement in place, it will be rendered void by an annulment. Accordingly, if you want the prenup/postnup to be binding, you’ll want to file for divorce.
• If there are children from the relationship and you want a court order regarding custody, support and visitation, you need a divorce decree.
• If you don’t wish to disclose the reason for an annulment, you can agree to amicably terminate the marriage by divorce on on grounds of “irreconcilable differences.”

On the other hand, annulment may be preferable in certain situations:

• If your personal or religious beliefs do not condone divorce, annulment may be a good alternative.
• With an annulment, because the marriage is deemed to never have occurred, there can be no order for spousal support and no division of marital property.
• An annulment usually takes less time than a divorce proceeding.