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An
annulment (or "nullity of marriage" or "nullity of domestic partnership")
is when a court says your marriage or domestic partnership is NOT legally
valid. A marriage or domestic partnership that is incestuous or bigamous
is never valid. Other marriages and partnerships can be declared "void"
because:
•of force, fraud, or physical or mental incapacity;
•one of the spouses or partners
was too young to legally marry or enter into
a domestic partnership; or
•one of the spouses or partners
was already married or in a registered
domestic partnership.
Annulments
are very rare. If you ask to have your marriage or domestic partnership
annulled, you will have to go to hearing with a judge. If you have
children in common with the other party, you must ask the court to
establish the parentage of that person.
In order to
initiate an annulment case, you must prepare and file a Summons and
Petition together with any other applicable forms. Upon filing, the Court
issues your Summons and assigns you a case number. Your spouse must be
personally served with your Summons and other documents. You can have
anyone over the age of 18 serve your spouse at no cost or you may choose
to have our office have your spouse served by our registered process
servers at an additional fee.
Once your
spouse is served with your Summons and other documents, he or she will
have 30 days to file the appropriate documents in Court to contest your
matter or they can opt to do nothing.
If your
spouse does not file the necessary documents with the Court to contest,
your annulment may proceed by default. You must prepare and file the
default package with the Court. After the Court processes your default
package, you must then prepare and file the judgment package to finalize
your annulment and request a default trial date.
If your
spouse does file the necessary documents with the Court to contest, you
must then complete your annulment by trial. You must prepare all of the
mandated trial documents and submit them in a timely manner in order for
your trial to proceed. If it becomes necessary for you to go to trial, it
is always recommended that you have an attorney appear with you so that
you have appropriate representation as this hearing will result in the
Judge rendering a decision on all issues and finalizing your annulment.
In
California, starting on January 1, 2005, domestic partners must also file
for dissolution, legal separation, or annulment to end their
relationship. The information above also applies to the annulment of a
domestic partnership.
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