A nullity of marriage is a court order declaring that a marriage was never legally valid. Most people call it an annulment. Unlike a divorce, which ends a marriage that existed, a nullity treats the marriage as though it never happened, and that single difference changes how courts handle property, support, children’s paternity, and even reinstatement of government benefits.
To obtain one, you file a petition in family court, prove a specific legal ground recognized by your state, and receive a decree declaring the marriage void. The rest of this article walks through what counts as a ground, when you have to act, what the filing looks like, and what changes once the decree is issued.
Void and Voidable Marriages Are Not the Same
Every invalid marriage falls into one of two categories, and the category decides how urgently you need to act.
A void marriage was never legal from the start, regardless of what either spouse knew or intended. The two classic examples are bigamy, where one spouse was already married to someone else, and incest, where the spouses are related within a degree prohibited by state law. These marriages can generally be challenged at any time, by either spouse and sometimes by a third party such as a prosecutor. You don’t technically need a court order to undo a void marriage, but a formal decree is almost always worth getting so you can prove your status to banks, insurers, and government agencies.
A voidable marriage is treated as valid until a spouse goes to court and successfully challenges it. If no one ever files, the marriage stays legally recognized. Most annulment cases live here, and this is where filing deadlines and the risk of ratification matter.
Grounds a Court Will Accept
The specific grounds vary by state, but most jurisdictions recognize some version of the following:
- Fraud that goes to the heart of the marriage. Lying about wanting children, hiding a prior marriage, or concealing a serious criminal history can qualify. Lying about income or job title generally will not. Courts ask whether the deceived spouse would have gone through with the wedding had they known the truth.
- Duress or force, meaning one spouse was coerced or threatened into the ceremony.
- Underage marriage, where one or both spouses were below the legal age of consent. In most states the underage spouse, or a parent or guardian, is the one who must bring the action.
- Mental incapacity, where a spouse lacked the cognitive ability to consent because of a mental health condition, developmental disability, or intoxication at the time of the ceremony.
- Inability to consummate the marriage, where one spouse is physically unable to have sexual intercourse and the other spouse did not know before the wedding.
- Bigamy. Even if the earlier marriage later ends in divorce, the second marriage doesn’t automatically become valid; a new ceremony is required.
- Incest, within the degree of relation prohibited by state law.
One trap worth knowing. If you discover a ground for annulment and keep living with your spouse as though nothing happened, most courts will treat that as ratification. You’ve effectively accepted the marriage, and you may lose the right to annul it. People who hesitate or try to work things out sometimes find themselves locked into pursuing a divorce instead.
Deadlines for Voidable Marriages
Void marriages have no deadline. Voidable marriages do, and the clock depends on the ground.
Fraud and duress claims generally must be filed within a set period after the deception or coercion is discovered. Underage claims usually have to be brought before the minor reaches the age of majority or within a few years after. Incapacity claims typically need to be filed within a reasonable time after the affected spouse regains capacity or sobriety. These windows vary significantly from state to state. Missing them doesn’t trap you in the marriage; it just means annulment is off the table and divorce is your route out.
How to File a Petition for Nullity
Filing follows the same basic pattern as a divorce, with one critical difference: you have to prove a specific ground, not just assert that the marriage is broken.
Start with the correct form from your local family court. The name varies. Some states call it a Petition for Nullity, others a Complaint for Annulment, and some use the general divorce petition with a checkbox for annulment. The county court clerk’s office or the court’s website will have the right form.
The petition asks for the full legal names of both spouses, the date and location of the marriage, and the factual basis for your claim. That last piece is the one that matters most. You need to lay out facts showing why the marriage qualifies under the specific legal ground you’re claiming.
Gather supporting evidence before you file. For bigamy, that means a copy of the prior marriage certificate. For fraud, emails, text messages, or records that reveal the deception. For incapacity, medical records or witness statements. The stronger the documentary evidence, the less the case comes down to your word against your spouse’s.
Filing the petition carries a fee, typically in the range of a few hundred dollars, varying by county and state. If you can’t afford it, most courts allow a fee waiver based on income.
After filing, you must formally notify your spouse through service of process. A neutral third party, usually a professional process server or a sheriff’s deputy, delivers the petition and a summons. You cannot serve the papers yourself. If you don’t know where your spouse is, document your search, then ask the judge for permission to serve by alternative means, which often involves publishing a legal notice in a newspaper.
What Happens at the Hearing
If your spouse doesn’t respond within the time allowed after being served, you can ask for a default judgment. You still have to show the judge that service was proper and your grounds are legally sufficient, but you avoid a contested hearing.
If your spouse does appear and disputes the facts, expect testimony from both sides and possibly witnesses. The burden of proof falls on the person requesting the annulment. You need to show by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning more likely than not, that the ground you’ve claimed existed. That’s a higher bar than many petitioners expect when the other spouse tells a different story. If the judge finds the evidence sufficient, they issue a decree of annulment declaring the marriage void.
Courts deny annulment petitions more often than people realize, usually because the evidence falls short of the standard or because the petitioner ratified the marriage through continued cohabitation. If the petition is denied, the marriage remains valid and divorce becomes your remaining option.
Civil Annulment Is Not a Religious Annulment
A civil annulment is a court proceeding that changes your legal marital status. A religious annulment is a separate process governed by your faith’s rules, such as the Catholic Church’s process under Canon Law. Neither substitutes for the other, and a religious decree has no effect on your legal status. If you need both, you’ll go through two entirely separate processes.
Legal Consequences of a Decree
Your Status
After an annulment, your legal status reverts to single or unmarried, not divorced. The distinction matters personally for some people and practically when filling out legal forms or applying for benefits.
Children
An annulment does not affect the legal status of children born during the marriage. Under the Uniform Parentage Act, which most states have adopted in some form, a man is presumed to be the father of a child born during a marriage even if that marriage is later annulled or declared invalid.1Administration for Children and Families. Uniform Parentage Act (2000) Courts still establish custody, visitation, and child support orders just as they would in a divorce.
Property and Debts
Because the marriage is treated as though it never existed, community property and marital property rules generally don’t apply. The default is to return each person to their pre-marriage financial position, with property going back to its original owner and debts to whoever incurred them. That works cleanly for short marriages with mostly separate finances. For longer marriages with mingled accounts or jointly acquired property, courts have some discretion to divide assets equitably, and the rules vary significantly by state.
The Putative Spouse Doctrine
Many states recognize a protection called the putative spouse doctrine, which applies when one spouse genuinely believed the marriage was valid. It comes up most often in bigamy cases where one spouse had no idea their partner was already married. In states that recognize the doctrine, the innocent spouse can claim the same property rights they would have had in a divorce despite the annulment.2Legal Information Institute. Putative Spouse Doctrine Some states also allow spousal support for a putative spouse.
Spousal Support
Because annulment treats the marriage as never having existed, the obligation to pay ongoing spousal support ordinarily doesn’t arise. That’s a significant difference from divorce. The putative spouse exception can change this, and some states allow temporary support during the annulment proceedings themselves. State law makes a real difference here.
Immigration Consequences
Annulment can have serious immigration consequences if one spouse obtained a green card through the marriage. A conditional permanent resident whose marriage is annulled can still petition to remove the conditions on residency, but only by filing a waiver of the joint filing requirement, and must show that they entered the marriage in good faith and were not at fault.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Removing Conditions on Permanent Residence Based on Marriage If USCIS concludes the marriage was entered solely to circumvent immigration law, annulment can trigger removal proceedings. Anyone in this situation should consult an immigration attorney before or alongside filing.
Social Security Benefits
If you were receiving Social Security benefits based on a prior spouse’s work record, such as survivor or spousal benefits, and those benefits stopped when you remarried, an annulment can reinstate them. The Social Security Administration treats an annulled marriage as though it never occurred, so benefits can restart as of the month the decree is issued, provided you file a timely application.4Social Security Administration. Reinstatement of Benefits When Marriage Terminates If the marriage is declared void rather than voidable, benefits may be restored retroactively to the month they originally ended.