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Can You Get An Annulment Instead of a Traditional Divorce?

By: Jon D. Alexander, Esq. Legal termination of marriage, in California, happens in one of three ways.

(1) Legal Separation; (2) Marital Dissolution; or (3) Nullity.

Are you a candidate for termination via nullity? Perhaps, but this remedy should only be sought where the validity of the marriage is in doubt. The difference between nullity of a marriage and martial dissolution is that they are based on opposing assumptions.

A nullity is pursued because the petitioner (one who files the action) believes that no valid marriage ever existed and their seeking to prove this theory. A marital dissolution, rather, merely terminates an otherwise valid marriage.

So, in effect, a nullity action seeks to answer a question. Was there a valid marriage? The court is tasked with finding an answer.

Is your marriage a valid one or is there some doubt? Were all of your formalization procedures (like obtaining the license, solemnization, and authentication) performed correctly? If not, these could be potential grounds for nullity. However, a marriage may be void or voidable for other reasons including incest, bigamy, inducement by fraud or force, or where one or both parties were minors at the time of the marriage.

Assuming a nullity is a option, be aware that there are some disadvantages. As the petitioner you have the burden of proof. This can be costly and time consuming. In a typical marital dissolution the proceedings are no fault. However, in a nullity proceeding, fault and issues of innocence are essential and must be proved with evidence.

Parties to an invalid marriage do not have community property rights. Rather, the property acquired during void or voidable marriage that would have otherwise been community property is deemed quasi-community property. And it divided up in much the same way as community property. But, and this is an important but. Property is deemed Quasi-community property only when Putative Spouse status is proved. This means that the spouse asserting that the property be deemed Quasi-Community Property must prove that he/she was innocent and that he/she had a good faith belief that the marriage was valid.

While these disadvantages are real and perhaps of overriding concern, there are many benefits of a nullity as well. If you are interested in learning of the benefits, please visit my site linked below. And please fill out a case questionnaire or join my mailing list for more free reports like this one. Thank you. Visit my site today!

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