What are the conceptional differences between an annulment and a divorce?
Annulments differ conceptually from divorces in that they establish that the marital status never legally existed while divorces terminate marital status. Historically, the law does not favor annulments because they contravene the public policy of upholding marriage and the objective of maintaining the legitimacy of children. While the statute states that judgments of-nullity of marriage “may” be rendered in particular cases, New Jersey law still recognizes the difference between void, marriages and voidable marriages. A void marriage possesses some essential defect going to the heart of the marital relationship and is susceptible to collateral attack. Meanwhile a voidable marriage permits the marriage to be directly attacked by the party attempting to invalidate it, but may also be ratified by that party by otherwise removing the impediment. With this distinction, bigamous marriages have been deemed void, while marriages contracted with impotent parties are said to be voidable. Simple
