An annulment is a court order declaring that a marriage was never legally valid in the first place. It is different from a divorce, which ends a marriage the law recognizes as real. After an annulment, your legal status reverts to single rather than divorced, and that single-word difference carries through to property, taxes, benefits, and inheritance.
How It Differs From a Divorce
A divorce acknowledges that a real marriage existed and terminates it going forward. An annulment says the marriage had a fatal legal defect from day one and should never have been recognized at all. The practical consequence shows up immediately. After a divorce, courts divide marital property and may order spousal support. After an annulment, the default rule in most states is that no marital property exists, because there was no valid marriage to generate any, so each person keeps what they brought in.
That default has softened. A growing number of states allow courts to divide property and award support even in annulment cases when fairness demands it, often through the putative spouse doctrine discussed below. But the starting point remains fundamentally different from divorce, and the difference ripples through taxes, benefits, and inheritance.
Void vs. Voidable Marriages
Not all invalid marriages are invalid in the same way, and this distinction drives most of annulment law. A void marriage was never legal under any circumstances. Bigamy and incest are the classic examples. A bigamous marriage is automatically invalid the moment it happens, whether or not anyone goes to court. A voidable marriage has a defect that makes it eligible for annulment, but the law treats it as valid until a court actually rules otherwise. Fraud, duress, and mental incapacity fall into this category.
The practical consequences differ. A void marriage can be challenged at any time, by either spouse and sometimes by a third party. A voidable marriage can only be challenged by one of the spouses, and usually within a limited window. If the wronged spouse learns about the defect and keeps living as married, a court may find they accepted the marriage and lost the right to annul it.
Grounds That Qualify
Every state sets its own list, but most recognize the same core categories:
- Fraud or misrepresentation. One spouse lied about or concealed something fundamental to the decision to marry: a prior divorce, a criminal record, inability to have children, a serious infectious disease. The deception has to go to the heart of the marriage, not just be a broken promise about something minor.
- Bigamy. One spouse was already legally married to someone else. The second marriage is void automatically.
- Incest. The spouses are too closely related by blood. Void from the start.
- Underage marriage. One or both parties were below the legal age and didn’t have the required parental or judicial consent.
- Mental incapacity. One spouse couldn’t understand what marriage means at the time of the ceremony, whether because of severe mental illness, intellectual disability, or intoxication.
- Duress or coercion. One spouse was forced or threatened into the marriage, so consent wasn’t freely given.
- Physical incapacity. One spouse is permanently unable to consummate the marriage and the other didn’t know about it beforehand.
Fraud is the most commonly claimed ground and the hardest to prove. Courts set a high bar: the lie has to be about something so central that a reasonable person wouldn’t have gone through with the wedding had they known. Lying about income or feelings doesn’t usually qualify. Lying about identity, fertility, or whether you’re already married does.
How Long You Have to File
Timing depends on the ground and on whether the marriage is void or voidable. Void marriages can generally be challenged at any time because they were never legal to begin with. Voidable marriages come with deadlines that vary by state and by ground.
For fraud, most states start the clock when you discover the deception, not on the wedding date. The filing window after discovery runs from one to four years depending on the state. For underage marriages, the deadline is often much shorter and may run from the date of the ceremony. Duress-based claims typically must be filed within a relatively short period after the coercion ends.
One critical point: if you know about a ground for annulment and keep living as a married couple, most courts will treat that as ratification. You lose the right to annul, no matter how strong the original ground was. Act quickly once you become aware of the problem.
How the Process Works
An annulment requires going through the court system, even when both spouses agree. One spouse files a petition with the family court identifying the specific legal ground and the facts supporting it, along with basic information about both spouses, the date and place of marriage, and any children born during the relationship. The other spouse is formally served and given a chance to respond. If they agree, the case can move quickly. If they contest, it goes to a hearing.
Burden of Proof
The person seeking the annulment has to prove one of the recognized grounds exists. Several states require clear and convincing evidence, which is a higher standard than the typical civil lawsuit. Telling the court your spouse lied is not enough. You need documentation, witnesses, or other concrete evidence that the defect existed at the time of the marriage. Fraud claims often require records contradicting what the other spouse represented. Mental incapacity may need medical records or expert testimony. Bigamy usually turns on a copy of the earlier marriage certificate. If the court finds the evidence sufficient, it issues a judgment of annulment declaring the marriage null and void.
Costs
Court filing fees land in roughly the same range as divorce filings, typically a few hundred dollars depending on the jurisdiction. Attorney fees swing widely based on whether the case is contested. An uncontested annulment can cost relatively little in legal fees. A contested case that goes through a full hearing with expert witnesses and document production can run into the thousands.
What It Means for Children
An annulment does not make your children illegitimate. Virtually every state has enacted laws providing that children born during a marriage later annulled remain legitimate for all legal purposes. Inheritance rights, custody arrangements, and child support obligations are unaffected.
Courts retain full authority to order custody and child support in annulment proceedings, just as they would in a divorce. The label on the case doesn’t change either parent’s obligation. Child support calculations work the same way regardless of whether the marriage is being voided or dissolved.
Property and Spousal Support
The traditional rule is simple: if the marriage never existed, there is no marital property to divide and no basis for spousal support. Each party walks away with whatever they owned individually. Courts recognized decades ago that this can produce deeply unfair results, especially when one spouse entered the marriage in good faith and made significant financial sacrifices.
The putative spouse doctrine addresses that problem. A putative spouse is someone who genuinely believed their marriage was valid. In states that recognize the doctrine, property acquired during the relationship is treated similarly to marital property and can be divided equitably. Some states go further and allow spousal support for a putative spouse, applying essentially the same rules that would govern a divorce. Even in states without a formal putative spouse statute, courts often find other equitable tools to prevent one spouse from being left destitute after a long relationship both parties treated as a marriage.
Tax Consequences
The IRS treats an annulment as though the marriage never happened, which creates a retroactive paperwork obligation that catches many people off guard. If you filed joint tax returns during the marriage, you are required to go back and file amended returns for every affected tax year, changing your filing status to single or, if you qualify, head of household. Amended returns use Form 1040-X and must be filed within three years of the original filing date or two years after paying the tax, whichever is later.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 504 (2025), Divorced or Separated Individuals
Amending may produce additional tax owed if filing separately generates a higher combined bill than filing jointly did, which is common. Some people find the opposite and end up with a refund. Either way, filing is not optional. Skipping the amended returns can trigger penalties and interest if the IRS determines you owe more than you originally paid.
Social Security and Government Benefits
An annulment can affect Social Security benefits that were tied to the annulled marriage. Because the marriage is treated as though it never existed, any benefits received based on your spouse’s earnings record have to be addressed. Under Social Security rules, if your benefits were previously reduced or suspended because of a marriage that is later annulled, your prior benefit amount can be reinstated as of the month the annulment decree was issued, provided you file a timely application.2Social Security Administration. SSA Handbook 1853 – Reinstatement of Benefits When Marriage Terminates
The other side is less pleasant. If you were collecting spousal benefits based on the now-annulled spouse’s record, those disappear because the qualifying marriage never legally existed. If you had benefits on another record from an earlier marriage, reinstatement is possible, but you need to apply promptly.
Civil Annulment Is Not a Religious Annulment
A civil annulment and a religious annulment are separate proceedings with different purposes and no overlap in legal effect. A civil annulment is a court order that changes your legal marital status. A religious annulment is a declaration by a religious authority that the marriage didn’t meet the requirements for validity under that faith’s rules. Getting one does not give you the other.
In the Catholic Church, which has the most formal religious annulment process, a diocesan tribunal evaluates whether the marriage met Church requirements, including that both spouses were free to marry, freely consented, intended a lifelong and faithful union, and were open to children.3United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Annulment A Catholic annulment has no effect on legal marital status, property rights, or tax filings. A civil annulment has no bearing on standing within the Church. If you need both, you go through each process independently, and the civil case typically has to be completed before the religious one begins.