How does annulment work?
Annulment is defined as the legal process which declares that a marriage never existed. If your marriage was prohibited – not valid right from the start – then you may ask the court to annul your marriage, declare it void, that it never happened. A marriage may be annulled because one of you was already married, you are siblings or close relatives, you were underage, the marriage was never consummated, or was based on fraud, or one of you was mentally retarded or mentally ill, or you were forced into the marriage.
In Indiana, a marriage can be annulled if a party to the marriage was incapable because of age or mental incompetence to enter into a contract of marriage. A marriage may also be annulled in the State of Indiana if the marriage was brought about through fraud on the part of one of the parties to the marriage. The procedures and residency requirements are the same procedures followed in a dissolution of marriage action.
Annulment of marriage cases are rare in Missouri, but the procedure is still available if the legal grounds are present. The legal theory underlying annulment is that the marriage was never valid to begin with and therefore a court will declare an annulment upon being presented with proof of the invalidity of the marriage. Following are the grounds for annulment recognized by Missouri law: • Duress. • Mental illness, insanity and retardation. • Lack of physical assent to the marriage. • Impotency. • Age. • Same-sex marriages. • Incestuous marriage. • Bigamous marriages. • Common-law marriages. • Fraud.
