Did you rush into marriage only to realize that you made a big mistake? Or, did you have a big, fancy wedding, but less than a year later you realized that your husband or wife is not the person you thought they were?
If either of the above scenarios applies to you, you may be wondering if an annulment would be in order, and reasonably so. But, the question is, can you actually get an annulment?
With a California annulment, the court is saying that your marriage was never legally valid to begin with. Once a marriage is annulled, it's as if the marriage never happened because it was not legal in the first place.
In order to qualify for an annulment, you must be able to prove that your marriage was NEVER legally valid. That said, the legal reasons for an annulment in California include:
- Your spouse is a close blood relative (incest).
- A spouse was legally married to someone else (bigamy).
- One of the spouses was under 18 at the time of the marriage.
- Either party entered the marriage with an "unsound mind."
- The marriage was based on fraud, for example, only marrying to get a green card or one party hides their inability to have children.
- One party was forced to get married, even if it was family.
- One of the parties is physically incapable of "consummating" the relationship due to a physical incapacity.
This is a basic summary of the reasons for annulment; each of the above reasons have important details that may increase your chances of getting an annulment.
In order to get an annulment, you will have to prove one of the above reasons to the judge. Annulments are very different from divorces, for example, a judge won't grant you an annulment because of "irreconcilable differences."
To learn more about annulments and the time limit for filing, contact a Los Angeles divorce lawyer at Claery & Hammond, LLPtoday!
