To understand annulment, you must forget everything you think you know about annulment.  Many people think that a marriage that lasts for only a short period of time can be annulled.  Over the years, many people have asked me to have their marriages annulled, because their marriage was never consummated.  Many people think that, if their marriage is annulled, there will be no record that they were married.  Many believe that having their marriage annulled is a simple process, perhaps accomplished by filing a form where they got their marriage license.  None of these popular beliefs is correct.

It is best to think of annulment as another type of divorce.  Both annulment and divorce begin with an action in the Supreme Court of New York.  Both spouses must consent to the annulment or divorce or the opposing spouse must be served with a summons.  Your pleading must be filed with the court.  In a divorce, you get a judgment of divorce from the court ending the marriage.  In an annulment, you get a judgment of annulment from the court ending the marriage.  Both judgments get filed with the county clerk’s office.  Whether a marriage ends in divorce or annulment, the marriage records are not eliminated.  There is no practical difference other than that your friends, family and future spouse may think that the annulment of your marriage means that you were never really married.

Annulments are mostly sought on the grounds of fraud in situations when one spouse tricked the other into getting married.  The fraud must be substantial to the point that a reasonable person would not have married if the truth had been known.  For example, if a woman induces a man to marry her by claiming to be pregnant when she is not, she has committed fraud that will justify an annulment.  Another classic fraud occurs when one party commits to having children once married but did not mean it.  To prevail in an annulment action, the lying party must admit to the fraud, and a witness must confirm the fraud.  Further, the person seeking the annulment must file the action within three years of discovering the fraud.

Although much less common, an annulment can be based on the claim that the marriage was void from the beginning.  This means that, as a matter of law, the marriage was not legal when it took place.  For example, a parent cannot legally marry his or her child, and a brother cannot legally marry his sister.

In addition to a civil annulment, there is a religious annulment.  Lawyers are not involved in obtaining a religious annulment – for that, consult your clergyperson.  You may still be able to divorce and obtain a religious annulment. 

If you have questions concerning a civil annulment, contact us or an experienced annulment lawyer near you.