When Can A Marriage Be Annulled?

It was a struggle for me to properly advise this lady but she was really lashing out and cussing out her current husband that she wished she never met or married the man. She is requesting that I immediately file for annulment of the marriage instead of filing for divorce; her reason is that she wants it to be as if she never married the man; she wants annulment instead of divorce so that it will be as if the marriage between him and the man never happened.

Well, while I sympathize with her and with anyone out there who may be going through hell in his or her marriage but that you wish you never met your spouse does not invalidate a valid marriage or give a legal ground for annulment of the marriage, all you can do is to seek for divorce and not the annulment of the marriage. 

While divorce means the legal breaking up of an existing marriage an annulment is a legal procedure that cancels a marriage in totality. An annulled marriage is erased from a legal perspective, and it declares that the marriage never technically existed; never happened and was never valid. Annulment simply means that the marriage is faulty from its foundation and therefore invalid and void. 

It is more difficult and technical to make a case for annulment of a valid marriage because you will have to prove to the satisfaction of the court that there is something inherently wrong with the foundation of the marriage that makes it illegal and invalidates it from the onset. This means that the court can only annul a marriage if the petitioner can show that there was something legally wrong with the marriage from the start. Even if you and your spouse agree that you both want an annulment instead of divorce, you still need to prove to the court that there’s a legal reason your marriage was not valid from the start. 

You cannot because you and your partner fall off or are no longer on good terms and want to seek annulment where what is applicable is divorce. 

If there must be annulment of the marriage instead of dissolution of the marriage, the petitioner must base the Petition on one of the following grounds;

1. Bigamy; if either party was already married to another person at the time of the marriage then the subsequent marriage can be annulled. This is to say that any purported marriage to or by a spouse who at that time is currently married to another person is invalid and it is therefore null and void.
2. Forced consent or duress; if one of the spouses was coerced, forced or threatened into marriage and only entered into it under duress and not by free will such marriage can be annulled. 
3. Fraud; if one of the spouses agrees to the marriage based on the lies, deceptions or misrepresentation of facts by the other spouse then such marriage can be annulled. 
4. Marriage prohibited by law: Marriage between parties that are related by blood which is considered incestuous can be annulled. 
5. Mental illness; if either spouse was mentally ill or emotionally disturbed at the time of the marriage then the marriage can be annulled. 
6. Mental Incapacity; if either spouse was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the marriage and was unable to make an informed decision or consent then the marriage can be annulled 
7. Inability to consummate marriage; if either spouse was physically incapable of having sexual relations or impotent during the marriage then the marriage could be annulled. 
8. Underage marriage; if either spouse was too young to enter into marriage without parental consent or court approval then the marriage can be annulled.

Outside these grounds, no matter how much you wish the marriage never happened, the option for you is divorce instead of annulment.