Annulments

Like a divorce, an annulment will end a marriage, however, it is only available in a very small number of cases.

If you think you may require an annulment we can advise you on the grounds for annulment and whether they apply to your own situation.

Along with annulment you can also apply to court for an order relating to children or finances, just like you would in a divorce.

There are two types of annulment available – one for void marriages and one for voidable marriages.

‘Void’ means that your marriage was never legally allowed from the beginning and after the annulment it is as if it never took place.  Reasons for a void marriage include:

• The parties being related to one another closer than the law allows;
• One of the parties being underage;
• One of the parties already being in a marriage or civil partnership.

A marriage is ‘voidable’ in circumstances where there is some kind of defect in the eyes of the law, for example:

• The marriage was never consummated (i.e. you did not have sex after the marriage took place);
• There was no proper consent to marry (i.e. you were forced into it or were drunk);
• One of you had a sexually transmitted disease or was pregnant by someone else at the time you got married.

Although slightly different grounds apply, a civil partnership can also be annulled by a court.