The Annulment

Nearly everybody understands the legal significance of obtaining a Judgment of divorce. However, a Judgment of annulment is something that very few people know about or experience. Although procedurally similar to a divorce, an annulment does not culminate in the termination of the legal relationship of Husband and Wife. Instead, if successful, it results in a Judgment that the marriage never existed.

Family Code Sections 2200 and 2201 flatly decree that incestuous and bigamous marriages are void and will be adjudged a nullity upon application to the Court. Family Code Section 2210 provides that marriages are voidable and may be decreed a nullity if specified conditions existed at the time of the marriage. These conditions include: (1) where one or both parties were minors and did not have the consent of a parent to marry; (2) bigamy; (3) where one party was of unsound mind; (4) where the consent of either party to marry was obtained by fraud; (5) where one party was forced into the marriage; or (6) where either party was physically incapable of entering into the marriage and the incapacity appears incurable.

For example, a person participating in a marriage ceremony while under the influence of an intoxicating beverage may be of “unsound mind,” without knowledge of what is happening, and, on that basis, may be entitled to an annulment. In determining whether a party is entitled to an annulment of marriage on the grounds of an unsound mind, the day of marriage is the critical date for determination of lack of capacity.

An annulment can also occur when one party fraudulently represents anything related to the sexual or procreative aspects of marriage. Typically, annulments on these grounds relate to the procreation aspects of marriage, often involving a spouse who has knowledge that he/she is unable to procreate, yet represents the opposite in entering into marriage. An annulment may also be granted when one spouse conceals his or her intent to continue an ongoing sexual relationship with another person at the time of marriage. However, the chastity of a wife prior to marriage is not vital to the marriage relation; and, therefore, a false representation by a wife of chastity is not a ground for annulling a marriage. A common ground for an annulment based on fraud occurs when one party’s motive in entering into the marriage was solely to obtain a green card or other legal status in the United States.

Asserting physical incapacity as a ground for an annulment requires proof that a spouse lacks the capacity to consummate the marriage by coition or legal impotence. The legal standard for physical incapacity justifying an annulment only requires the inability for copulation. If intercourse is not fruitful or satisfying, an annulment will not be granted on that ground alone.

When one spouse successfully obtains an annulment, the parties are still legally required to divide assets and debts akin to any other action for dissolution or legal separation. The legal significance of an annulment is only that the marriage never occurred, not that community property laws do not apply. Once a marriage is annulled, the parties are immediately restored to the status of single persons as if the marriage never occurred.