Annulment
Orange County Marriage Annulment Attorney: Understanding Annulment vs. Divorce
An annulment is a nullity (voiding) of a marriage or a domestic partnership, where the Court orders that the marriage or domestic partnership is not legally valid. After an annulment, it is like the marriage never happened, as it was never legal in the eyes of the court.
Most people think annulment and divorce are basically the same thing – you’re married, then you’re not. But they’re completely different animals. Divorce ends a valid marriage. Annulment says there never was a valid marriage to begin with. That difference matters more than you might think, especially when it comes to money and property.
You Can’t Just Ask for an Annulment
You can’t get an annulment just because you changed your mind or realized you made a mistake. The law is very specific about what qualifies. To get an annulment, you have to prove one of the following legal reasons for an annulment exists:
- The marriage was incestuous
- The marriage was bigamous
- One of the people who was married was a minor at the time of the marriage
- Either party was already legally married or in a registered domestic partnership, but the other partner was absent for five (5) years and not known to be living
- Either party was of unsound mind when they became married
- The marriage was a result of fraud
- The marriage was a result of force
- The marriage was to someone physically incapacitated
The fraud one trips people up. It’s not just any lie – it has to be fraud that goes to the “essence of marriage.” So if your spouse lied about wanting kids, that might qualify. If they lied about their job or how much money they made, probably not.
Force doesn’t just mean someone held a gun to your head. It can include emotional coercion or threats. We’ve handled cases where families pressured someone into marriage against their will.
Time Limits Matter – A Lot
There are various filing deadlines (statutes of limitations) for filing an annulment, dependent on the reason the parties or party want to void the relationship. Miss these deadlines, and you’re stuck with divorce as your only option.
For fraud cases, you typically have four years from when you discovered the fraud, not from when it happened. For underage marriages, you have four years after turning 18. For mental incapacity, it’s four years from when the incapacitated person regains capacity.
Some grounds don’t have time limits – like bigamy or incest. Those marriages are void from day one and stay that way.
The Consequences Are Bigger Than You Think
As the annulment results in the marriage or domestic partnership being viewed as if it never happened, this means there are no automatic parentage responsibilities without an order of the court, so you must ask the Court to make orders like child custody, visitation, and support.
This creates weird situations. If you have kids together but get an annulment, the law doesn’t automatically recognize both of you as legal parents. You’ll need court orders establishing parentage, custody, and support – just like unmarried parents do.
After an annulment, the parties cannot use community property laws to divide their property or debt, since the marriage never existed. A civil court proceeding will be required if the parties’ need the court’s assistance for any kind of property or debt division.
Think about that for a minute. All those assets you acquired together, the house you bought, the retirement savings – legally, none of that belongs to both of you. Without community property laws, you’re back to whoever’s name is on the title owns it. That can create serious problems if one person’s name is on everything.
This also means there is no right, usually, to spousal support, or a right to the other person’s pension or retirement benefits. So if you gave up your career to support your spouse’s education or business, tough luck. Legally, you were never married, so you’re not entitled to anything.
The Safety Net: Putative Spouse Status
However, there is an exception, where someone meets the “putative” spouse or domestic partner status. To prove that you have “putative” spouse or partner status can be a complicated process, as it entails proving that you had a good faith belief that the marriage or domestic partnership was legal under California law. If you are successful, the Court can enter financial orders as if the marriage was actually intact.
This is where things get complicated. Say you married someone who was already married, but they told you they were divorced. You had no idea the first marriage was still valid. The law recognizes that you acted in good faith, believing you were legally married.
To qualify as a putative spouse, you need to prove three things: you went through a marriage ceremony, you believed in good faith that the marriage was valid, and your belief was reasonable under the circumstances.
“Good faith” means you genuinely believed you were legally married. “Reasonable” means a reasonable person in your situation would have believed the same thing. If obvious red flags suggested the marriage wasn’t valid, but you ignored them, you might not qualify.
Why This Gets Messy Fast
Putative spouse cases can turn into legal nightmares. You’re essentially asking a court to give you the financial benefits of marriage while simultaneously saying the marriage never existed. The other side will fight both the annulment and your claim to putative spouse status.
We’ve seen cases where couples lived together for years, bought houses, started businesses, had kids – then discovered one of them was still married to someone else. Sorting out who owns what becomes incredibly complicated when you can’t rely on normal divorce laws.
When Annulment Makes Sense
Despite the complications, annulment is sometimes the right choice. If you’re in a short marriage with no kids and limited assets, it might be simpler than divorce. Some people want annulment for religious reasons – their faith recognizes annulment but not divorce.
Others need annulment because their spouse disappeared and they can’t serve divorce papers. In some cases, annulment is the only option that makes legal sense.
Get Help Before You Decide
Annulment law is tricky, and the consequences are permanent. Once a court declares your marriage never existed, you can’t change your mind later and ask for a divorce instead. Make sure you understand what you’re getting into before you file.
The deadlines are strict, the proof requirements are specific, and the financial implications can be severe. This isn’t the time to wing it or assume everything will work out fine.
Frequently Asked Questions
The biggest difference is that divorce ends a valid marriage, while annulment declares the marriage was never valid in the first place. That distinction has huge practical consequences.
Property Division: In divorce, you split everything acquired during marriage 50/50 under community property laws. With annulment, there's no community property because legally there was no marriage. You keep what's in your name, they keep what's in theirs.
Spousal Support: Divorced spouses may be entitled to ongoing support payments. Annulled "spouses" usually aren't, because you were never legally married. The exception is if you qualify as a "putative spouse" - someone who believed in good faith they were legally married.
Children: Both annulment and divorce require court orders for custody and support, but with annulment, parentage isn't automatically established. You'll need additional court proceedings to confirm both parents' legal rights.
Time Requirements: Divorce requires a six-month waiting period. Annulment can be finalized faster, but you must qualify for specific legal grounds and meet strict deadlines.
When Annulment Makes Sense: Short marriages with few assets, marriages that were clearly invalid from the start, or when religious considerations make annulment preferable to divorce.
When Divorce Is Better: Longer marriages with significant assets, when you want community property protections, or when you don't meet the strict requirements for annulment.
Bottom Line: Don't choose annulment just because it sounds easier or faster. The long-term financial consequences can be severe if you give up community property rights.
California law is very specific about what qualifies for annulment. You can't just decide you made a mistake - you need to prove one of eight specific legal grounds.
The Valid Grounds:
- Incestuous marriage - Marriage between close blood relatives
- Bigamous marriage - One spouse was already married to someone else
- Underage marriage - One spouse was under 18 without proper consent
- Presumed death - Spouse was absent for 5+ years and presumed dead
- Unsound mind - Mental incapacity at the time of marriage
- Fraud - Lies about something essential to marriage (like wanting children)
- Force - Marriage under duress, threats, or coercion
- Physical incapacity - Inability to have sexual relations
What Doesn't Qualify: Garden-variety lies about income, job history, or past relationships usually don't count as fraud. The deception must go to the "essence of marriage" - fundamental issues like the ability or willingness to have children, consummate the marriage, or enter into a committed relationship.
Proving Your Case: You'll need evidence supporting your claim. For fraud, that might include communications where your spouse admitted lying about wanting kids. For force, you might need testimony from witnesses who saw the coercion.
Time Limits Apply: Most grounds have strict deadlines. For fraud, you typically have four years from discovering the fraud. For underage marriage, four years after turning 18. Some grounds like bigamy have no time limit.
The Reality Check: Even if you technically qualify, consider whether annulment is worth it given the property and support consequences.
Unlike divorce, which you can file anytime, annulment has strict deadlines that vary depending on your grounds. Miss the deadline, and you're stuck with divorce as your only option.
Four-Year Deadlines:
- Fraud: Four years from when you discovered the fraud, not when it happened
- Underage marriage: Four years after the minor spouse turns 18
- Unsound mind: Four years from when the incapacitated person regains mental capacity
- Force: Four years from when the marriage occurred
No Time Limit:
- Bigamous marriages: These are void from day one and stay void forever
- Incestuous marriages: Also void ab initio with no deadline
Special Situations:
- Physical incapacity: The deadline varies based on specific circumstances
- Presumed death cases: Complex timing rules apply depending on when the "dead" spouse returns
Discovery Rule for Fraud: The clock starts ticking when you actually discover the fraud, not when your spouse lied. So if they lied about wanting children in 2020 but you didn't find out until 2023, you'd have until 2027 to file.
Why These Deadlines Matter: Courts don't extend these deadlines for convenience. If you're one day late, tough luck. The policy is that people shouldn't be able to void marriages years later when it becomes financially convenient.
Practical Advice: If you think you might have grounds for annulment, don't wait. Gather your evidence and file quickly. You can always dismiss the case later if you change your mind, but you can't resurrect a case after the deadline passes.
This is where annulment gets really tricky. Since the marriage "never existed," normal community property laws don't apply. You generally keep what's in your name, and they keep what's in theirs.
No Community Property: Everything you acquired during the "marriage" belongs to whoever's name is on the title or account. So if your spouse bought a house and put only their name on the deed, it's theirs entirely, even if you helped pay for it.
Debt Responsibility: Similarly, debts belong to whoever incurred them. If your spouse ran up credit card bills, those are their responsibility alone - unless you were a joint account holder or co-signer.
The Big Problem: This setup can create serious unfairness. If one spouse's name is on all the assets while the other sacrificed career opportunities or contributed unpaid labor, the contributing spouse might end up with nothing.
Putative Spouse Protection: California recognizes "putative spouses" - people who believed in good faith they were legally married. If you qualify, you can get community property rights despite the annulment.
Proving Putative Status: You need to show you went through a marriage ceremony, genuinely believed the marriage was valid, and your belief was reasonable. This often comes up in bigamy cases where someone didn't know their spouse was already married.
Alternative Legal Theories: Sometimes couples can use contract law, partnership principles, or unjust enrichment claims to divide property fairly, but these are much more complicated than standard divorce proceedings.
Civil Court Actions: If you can't work out property division through the annulment case, you might need separate civil litigation to sort out who owns what.
Plan Ahead: Before filing for annulment, think carefully about the property consequences. Sometimes divorce is a better option financially, even if annulment is technically available.