If you are considering annulling a marriage in California, you need to know the details about when you’re allowed to end your marriage using this process and the implications of doing so.
What Is Annulment?
Annulment is the voiding of a marriage. It doesn’t just end the partnership—it says the marriage should never have been considered valid in the first place.
There are different kinds of annulment you can pursue:
- Religious annulments. These are granted by religious institutions. They have no legal impact. If your religious leader annuls your marriage, this can impact your standing within your religious community, but you will still be legally married in the eyes of the law.
- Civil annulments. These are granted by the state. You can go to court to have your marriage declared void. If you are eligible and comply with legal requirements, the court can declare that your union was and is invalid, you are no longer considered married and you never have been legally married in the eyes of the law.
You can pursue both types or only one type if you want—but if you wish to remarry or be considered legally single for tax purposes and other official government business, you need a civil annulment.
Legal Grounds for Annulment in California
You can’t just get an annulment because you want one. There must be legal grounds to annul your marriage. California Family Code section 2210 explains the legal reasons to void your marriage including:
- The person seeking annulment was too young to consent at the time of the marriage and did not continue living with their spouse as a married couple after reaching the age of consent.
- One person is already married to someone else who they thought was dead but isn’t.
- Either spouse was of unsound mind and still is or the couple did not continue living as married once the mental incapacity issues were resolved.
- Either spouse entered into the marriage as a result of fraud, and the couple did not continue living as husband and wife once the fraud was discovered.
- The consent of either spouse was obtained by force, and the spouse who was forced did not freely continue to live with the other person.
- Either spouse was physically incapable of consummating the marriage and this incapability still persists and is not likely to be resolved.
In these situations, the court could declare the marriage void upon request. The marriage is said to be voidable. There are also situations when a marriage is automatically void, including when:
- The spouses are too closely related by blood (this is called incest).
- Either spouse was already married to someone else at the time of the new marriage (this is called bigamy).
Distinction Between Annulment and Divorce
According to the California courts, “annulment (or nullity) is when a judge says in a court order that your marriage or domestic partnership is not legally valid. This means something was legally wrong with the marriage from the start. If you get an annulment, it’s like your marriage never happened because it was never legal.”
In an annulment, a judge in California cannot divide up property or order spousal support except in limited circumstances when the court finds one person was a putative spouse. This is a person who entered into the marriage in good faith with a belief it was legal even though it was not.
Custody and child support can be determined in both annulment and divorce, and a child born into a marriage that is annulled is not illegitimate.
Divorce, on the other hand, ends a marriage but doesn’t void or undo it. You can get a divorce on no-fault grounds, and the court will divide up your property and order alimony payments in appropriate circumstances.
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