You can file for an annulment when something was wrong with the marriage at the moment you said “I do” — not something that went wrong later. The recognized grounds are narrow: bigamy, fraud, duress or force, mental incapacity or intoxication, underage marriage without proper consent, close blood relation, and an incurable physical inability to consummate. Deadlines depend on which ground applies and on your state, and in most cases the clock starts when you discover the problem, not when you married. Continuing to live together as spouses after you learn of the defect will usually sink the petition.
Void Marriages vs. Voidable Marriages
Before looking at any specific ground, it helps to know which category your situation falls into, because that controls who can file and how much time you have.
A void marriage was never legally valid. Bigamy and marriages between close blood relatives fall here. Technically no court order is needed to invalidate one, but most people still get a formal declaration to clean up records, insurance, and property. Either party can seek that declaration at any time.
A voidable marriage is treated as valid until a court annuls it. Fraud, duress, intoxication, and underage marriages without proper consent are voidable. Only the wronged spouse can bring the petition, and if that spouse waits too long or keeps living as a married couple after discovering the problem, a court can refuse to grant it.
Grounds for Annulment
Every ground points to a defect that existed when the vows were exchanged. Something that goes wrong after the wedding is a reason for divorce, not annulment.
Bigamy
If your spouse was already legally married to someone else when you married, your marriage is void. Every state prohibits bigamy, and in many states it’s also a crime. You don’t have to prove you were deceived; the existence of an undissolved prior marriage is enough.
Fraud or Misrepresentation
Fraud is the most commonly litigated ground and the hardest to prove. The lie has to go to something courts consider essential to the marriage, not any pre-wedding fib. Concealing an inability to have children, hiding a serious criminal history, or marrying solely to obtain immigration benefits with no intent to live as a couple are classic examples. Lying about income or exaggerating career prospects usually won’t clear the bar.
You also have to show you genuinely relied on the misrepresentation when you decided to marry. A judge won’t grant the annulment if you knew about the deception beforehand or would have married anyway. Courts have denied petitions where the spouse couldn’t demonstrate that the fraud actually influenced the decision to go through with the ceremony.
Duress or Force
A marriage entered under threats or coercion is voidable because one party never truly consented. Duress is pressure severe enough to overcome a person’s free will; force is physical compulsion. The coercion must have been present at the ceremony itself. General family pressure to marry is a much harder case than specific threats.
Mental Incapacity or Intoxication
If a spouse couldn’t understand what they were agreeing to during the ceremony, the marriage is voidable. This covers severe mental illness, cognitive disabilities, and intoxication by alcohol or drugs severe enough to destroy the ability to consent. The incapacity must have existed at the moment of the ceremony.
Underage Marriage
When a minor married without the required parental or judicial consent, the marriage is voidable. The minor or their legal guardian can petition. Most states set 18 as the minimum age to marry without parental consent, and rules for younger individuals with parental approval vary widely. The filing window typically closes once the underage spouse reaches the age of majority and voluntarily continues the relationship.
Close Blood Relatives
Marriages between close family members are void in every state: parents and children, siblings, and uncle-niece or aunt-nephew pairings are prohibited everywhere. First-cousin marriage is allowed in roughly half the states and prohibited in the rest. Because these marriages are void rather than voidable, there is no filing deadline.
Physical Inability To Consummate
Many states recognize an incurable physical inability to have sexual intercourse as a ground. This is about physical capacity for intercourse, not infertility. The condition must have existed at the time of the marriage, and the other spouse must not have known about it beforehand. States that allow this ground typically require filing within a set number of years after the wedding.
Deadlines and the Cohabitation Trap
Annulment deadlines turn on the ground and the state. For void marriages like bigamy or incest, there is generally no statute of limitations, because the marriage was never valid in the first place.
Voidable marriages are different. Courts expect the wronged spouse to act promptly after discovering the problem. For fraud, most states start the clock when the deceived spouse discovers the deception, not from the wedding date. But “promptly” is taken seriously. Courts have refused annulments where the petitioner waited years after discovery, particularly when children were born or significant property was acquired in the meantime. For underage marriages, the deadline usually runs from the date the minor turns 18. For intoxication or mental incapacity, the clock starts when the affected spouse regains capacity.
One factor kills annulment claims across every voidable ground: continuing to live together as a married couple after you learn about the defect. Courts in virtually every state treat voluntary cohabitation after discovery as ratification of the marriage. If you learn your spouse committed fraud and stay in the relationship for another two years, a judge is unlikely to grant the petition. If you intend to seek an annulment, move quickly after you find out.
Why Choosing Annulment Over Divorce Can Backfire
Annulment declares the marriage never existed. That legal fiction can leave one spouse with very little. In a divorce, courts divide marital property. In an annulment, there is theoretically no marital property to divide, because there was no marriage.
Many states soften that result through the putative spouse doctrine. If you entered the marriage in good faith, genuinely believing it was valid, you may be treated as a “putative spouse” and receive the same property protections you’d get in a divorce. The doctrine exists specifically to protect the innocent spouse whose partner, say, turned out to already be married.1Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Putative Spouse Doctrine
Spousal support varies more. Some states allow courts to award temporary or ongoing support in annulment cases, especially where one spouse gave up career opportunities during the relationship. Other states take the position that because no marriage existed, no support obligation can arise. If support matters to you, that difference alone can make divorce the better strategic choice.
One worry you can set aside: an annulment does not make children illegitimate. Every state has laws preserving children’s legal status regardless of whether the marriage is later annulled, and courts retain full authority to order custody, visitation, and child support in annulment proceedings. A parent cannot use annulment to escape child support.
Religious Annulment Is Not a Legal Annulment
A religious annulment and a legal annulment are separate processes with no effect on each other. A Catholic Church annulment, for example, declares that the marriage didn’t meet the Church’s requirements for a valid sacramental union. It carries no legal force. You can receive a religious annulment and still be legally married, or obtain a civil annulment while remaining married in the eyes of your faith. If you need both, you have to pursue each independently.
How To File
Start by assembling documentation that supports your specific ground. You’ll need a certified copy of the marriage certificate and personal identifying information for both spouses. Beyond that, evidence depends on the ground: medical records for incapacity, documentation of a prior undissolved marriage for bigamy, financial records or communications showing fraud, or witness statements from people who saw duress or intoxication at the ceremony.
The petition itself is a court form. It requires you to identify the legal ground and lay out the facts supporting it. Forms are available from the court clerk’s office or the court’s website. Specificity matters. A vague petition that doesn’t clearly connect the facts to a recognized ground risks dismissal. Many courts have self-help centers that can check your paperwork for completeness, though staff can’t give legal advice.
Once the petition is complete, you file it with the clerk and pay the filing fee. Fees vary, but a few hundred dollars is typical. If you can’t afford it, most courts offer fee waivers for low-income petitioners.
Your spouse then has to receive formal notice through service of process. You can’t hand over the papers yourself. A professional process server, a county sheriff, or any adult over 18 who isn’t a party to the case must deliver the petition and summons, then complete a proof of service form that you file with the court. Until service is properly completed and documented, a judge can’t make final decisions in the case.
Annulments almost always require a hearing, because you have to prove a specific legal defect existed at the time of the marriage. The burden of proof is higher than in a typical divorce. You’ll present evidence, possibly with witness testimony, and the judge will decide whether your claim meets the legal standard for the ground you chose. If your spouse contests the petition, the hearing can resemble a trial. Even in uncontested cases, the judge still needs to be satisfied that the ground is established. The annulment is final only when the judge signs the decree; a minute order or a signed agreement between the parties is not enough on its own.