Divorce Alternative – Annulment

With an annulment, the court determines that a marriage or domestic partnership is not legally valid. Marriages or domestic partnerships that are incestuous or bigamous are never valid. Others can be declared “void” or “voidable” because on one of the following:

• of force, fraud, or physical or mental incapacity;
• one of the spouses was legally too young to marry or enter a domestic partnership; or
• one of the spouses was already married or in a domestic partnership.

More information about the grounds for an annulment, as well as time limits for filing for an annulment, are available from the California Family Code, sections 2210 et seq. Annulments are very uncommon. If you ask to have your marriage or domestic partnership annulled, you will have to go to hearing with a judge. To file for an annulment, one party must reside in the county where the papers are filed at the time the case is started. Again, there is no required length of residency.