Marriage Annulment

Part of: Divorce Specialists

A marriage annulment, or annulment of marriage, ends a marriage the law treats as faulty from the very start. It is not a quick divorce, and that single misunderstanding costs people months. A court can annul a marriage that was never legally valid. It can also annul one that was valid, but defective in a way the law recognises. You can apply in the first year of marriage, which divorce does not allow. However, most grounds carry a strict deadline. Below, our family law specialists set out which route fits your marriage and how long you actually have.

What is an annulment?

An annulment is a court order ending a marriage on the basis that it was never legally valid, or that it was valid but defective in one of the ways the law sets out. That is the meaning of annulment in plain terms: a divorce ends a marriage the court accepts was valid, while annulling a marriage either declares that it never legally existed or unpicks it as faulty.

According to the government website, annulment is a different way of ending a marriage. Annulment is also referred to as nullity. For an annulment of marriage in UK to take place the courts must decide that a marriage is void or voidable under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, and the court then makes a nullity of marriage order. The outcome of a marriage annulment is the same as a divorce which means your relationship has legally ended. The main difference between a marriage annulment and a divorce depends on which of the two categories you are in. A void marriage under section 11 was never legally valid, so the courts treat it as a marriage that never existed. A voidable marriage under section 12 was legally valid, and stays valid, until the court annuls it. That choice changes the grounds, the time limits and the forms, so it is the first thing to get right.

How long after a wedding can you get an annulment?

To obtain a divorce, you must have been married for at least a year. In contrast the marriage annulment time frame is less stringent. There is no such wait before annulling a marriage. This means you can make an application for annulment of marriage in UK at any time rather than waiting for at least a year. However, making an application for annulment many years after your marriage could cause some issues as you will be required to explain the reasons for your delay and why the marriage was not challenged at an earlier stage.

There is one important qualification. A void marriage can be dealt with at any point, but most voidable grounds must be brought within three years of the date of the marriage, and the interim gender recognition certificate ground within six months. Both are explained further down this page.

What is the process for an annulment?

For a marriage annulment to take place you must complete a nullity application. The form is called a D8N and is an application to annul your marriage or civil partnership. When completing this form, you must ensure you provide your name and full details, together with the details of the Respondent, who is a party to the marriage. You must also confirm when your marriage took place and the place the marriage took place. Your marriage or civil partnership certificate must also be sent to the court. It must be the certificate itself, or a certified copy obtained from the register office, because a photocopy will not be accepted. When completing the form, you must also confirm the facts which you are relying upon in support of your application for a marriage annulment. These are:

• Either the marriage is void; or
• The marriage is voidable

When completing the nullity application, you must also complete a statement of case. You must provide details about the fact on which you wish to rely upon to annul your marriage.

Your completed nullity application form does not go to your local court. There is one national destination for it. Send two copies of the form to the Bury St Edmunds Regional Divorce Unit, Triton House, St Andrew’s Street North, Bury St Edmunds IP33 1TR, and keep a copy for yourself. The nullity application also attracts a court fee of £628, the same fee as a divorce or dissolution, set out in the family court fee list (EX50). Check the current figure before you file, as court fees change.

When is a marriage considered void?

Section 11 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 provides the legal grounds in which a marriage may be considered as void and therefore allow you to obtain a marriage annulment. A marriage is void in the situations set out in section 11, the most common being:

• You and your spouse are within the prohibited degrees of relationship, which means you are too closely related.
• Either you or your spouse was under 18 when the marriage took place. The minimum age in England and Wales rose from 16 to 18 on 27 February 2023 under the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022, so for a marriage before that date the age to check is 16.
• Either you or your spouse was already lawfully married, or already in a civil partnership, at the time of your marriage. That is also the territory of bigamy, which we cover in a separate guide.

Those three are not the whole of section 11. It also covers a marriage that did not follow the legal formalities the Marriage Acts require, a marriage solemnised in breach of section 2A of the Marriage Act 1949, and a polygamous marriage entered into outside England and Wales where either party was domiciled here at the time. If your situation falls outside the three above, it is still worth checking rather than assuming you have no route.

If any of the above conditions apply, then the courts will consider that your marriage had never taken place. You should try and keep any evidence you have of the above, with regards to whether either part was married at the time, the age, or the close relationship. This evidence will be extremely useful especially if you want to consider getting married again in the future following your annulment.

Do you need a court order for a void marriage?

Strictly, no. The marriage was never valid, with or without an order. Even so, our family lawyers suggest applying for a marriage annulment anyway. A nullity of marriage order closes the question, so no registrar or future spouse can reopen it years later.

There is also no deadline here. You can deal with a void marriage whenever you discover the problem. The three-year rule below bites on voidable grounds only.

When is a marriage considered voidable?

Section 12 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 provides the legal grounds in which a marriage may be considered as voidable. A marriage may be considered as voidable or defective and renders it possible to obtain an annulment of marriage in UK where:

• The marriage has never been consummated. This means that you and your partner have not engaged in sex since the date of the marriage, either because one of you is unable to or because your spouse has wilfully refused. Section 12(2) of the Act removes this ground for the marriage of a same sex couple, so it is available only to opposite-sex married couples. It is not a ground at all for civil partners, because section 50 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 does not list non-consummation.
• The marriage was not properly consented to. This could be where your consent was based on other factors such as you being under the influence of alcohol or drugs or you were coerced into consenting to the marriage. This also covers situations where one party, had at the time of the marriage, been suffering from some form of a mental disorder.
• Your spouse was pregnant with a child from another person when you got married.
• Your partner had a communicable sexually transmitted disease when you got married and you were not aware of this. The Act still uses the older phrase “venereal disease in a communicable form”.
• One of the partners had undergone gender recognition before the marriage without telling the other partner; or
• An interim gender recognition certificate was issued to one partner after the marriage had taken place.

Unlike a void marriage, a voidable marriage is seen as being valid until the date of when the annulment is finalised. Everything that flows from being married applies right up to the moment the final order is made. Voidable grounds also carry time limits, which void grounds do not. That single difference decides which form you file, whether you are still married in the meantime, and whether you are already too late.

Time limits on a marriage annulment: the voidable grounds

This is the part people miss, and it is unforgiving. Section 13 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 sets the deadlines for an annulment of marriage. The clock runs from the date of the marriage. It does not run from the day you found out.

Three points make that table workable. Section 13(2) sets the three-year limit, and section 13(2A) sets the six-month one. Non-consummation carries no deadline at all, which surprises most people. A void marriage carries none either.

There is a narrow escape route, and it is narrower than most pages suggest. Under section 13(4) a judge may allow a late application. However, it turns on one condition. The judge must find that you suffered from mental disorder at some time during those three years, and that granting leave would be just. No other kind of good reason unlocks it.

Applying for a conditional order, previously called the decree nisi

Once your application is issued by the court, the other party must respond within 14 days saying whether they agree the marriage should be annulled. Following their agreement, as with a divorce, you can make an application for the conditional order. This will confirm that the court does not object to the marriage being annulled. The decree nisi was renamed the conditional order for applications issued on or after 6 April 2022, so older guidance you find online will still use the previous wording.

To apply, you complete the application for a conditional order of nullity. There are two versions of it, and choosing the wrong one costs you time: form D84NV where the marriage or civil partnership is void, and form D84NVA where it is voidable. A different form applies if your application was issued before 6 April 2022.

A statement in support of annulment must also be completed and sent to the court. This statement confirms that the facts you stated in your application for a marriage annulment are true. There are two different statements in support of an annulment. One is for when the marriage is void and the other is where the marriage is voidable. When completing this statement, you must confirm that you have read the nullity application. You must also confirm whether there is anything you want to add or change to any statement in the application.

One practical difference from divorce is worth knowing. A divorce has a 20 week wait after the application is issued before a conditional order can be applied for at all. A nullity application does not carry that 20 week wait, so an annulment can move more quickly once the other party has responded.

Applying for the final order, previously called the decree absolute

The final order, previously called the decree absolute, is the final document which confirms that your marriage has been legally annulled and allows you to obtain an annulment of marriage in UK. An application for the final order can be made six weeks after you have obtained the conditional order. Until that final order exists a voidable marriage is still a valid marriage, so remarrying before it arrives is not an option.

What are the benefits of a marriage annulment instead of a divorce?

Undertaking a marriage annulment can have its own benefits over undergoing a divorce. The real advantages are timing and the record, not money. There is no one-year wait, and no 20 week wait either, so a marriage that should never have happened can be ended quickly. For a void marriage the court order confirms the marriage was never legally valid, which can matter for how you and your family understand what happened, for a religious position, and for remarrying with certainty.

One warning, because it is the single most common misunderstanding about annulment. An annulment does not shield your assets. Under sections 23 to 24B of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 the court has the same financial powers on a nullity of marriage order as it does on a divorce order: maintenance and lump sums under section 23, property under section 24, and pension sharing under section 24B. If someone has told you that annulling a marriage keeps the finances out of it, that is wrong, and acting on it can be costly.

The effect on maintenance from an earlier marriage is a genuinely difficult area. A periodical payments order from a previous marriage normally ends on remarriage under section 28 of the Act, and whether a later marriage that turns out to be void or voidable changes that is not something to assume either way. If you are receiving maintenance from a former spouse and your second marriage may be annulled, take advice before you do anything.

Can the courts stop you from applying for a marriage annulment?

Section 13 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 sets out three separate bars. Any one of them can defeat your application.

The first is approbation, under section 13(1). If you knew you could have the marriage annulled, you cannot then behave as though you would not. Where your conduct led your spouse reasonably to believe that, the court can refuse. It must also find that an order would now be unjust to your spouse.

The second is the three-year limit in section 13(2), with its six-month variant in section 13(2A). The table above shows which grounds each one touches.

People overlook the third bar entirely. Section 13(3) applies to three grounds: venereal disease, pregnancy by another person, and acquired gender. For each of those, the court cannot annul unless you were ignorant of the facts when you married. Knowing and marrying anyway closes the door.

Where these applications actually go wrong

Almost no marriage annulment fails on the law itself. They fail on two small things instead.

The first is the clock. People read the three-year limit and assume it runs from the day they discovered the problem. It runs from the wedding, so a discovery in year four usually arrives too late on a consent or pregnancy ground.

The second is the choice of route. Filing on a void ground when your facts are voidable, or the reverse, means the wrong form, the wrong statement and a wasted fee. Non-consummation is the clearest example of a ground people wrongly rule out, because it carries no deadline at all.

What are my options if the courts do not grant a marriage annulment?

If the court refuses an application for a marriage annulment or does not consider there to be sufficient grounds to render a marriage void or voidable then you would need to proceed under the normal course and procedure for a divorce. You cannot start a divorce until you have been married for a year, so if your marriage is very recent you may have to wait. This is the main reason to test the grounds properly before filing rather than after.

Annulment vs divorce: what is the difference?

The question that settles divorce versus annulment is whether your marriage was ever valid. A divorce ends a valid marriage. An annulment either confirms that a void marriage never legally existed, or ends a voidable one on one of the grounds in section 12.

How do the grounds for a divorce and a marriage annulment differ?

Divorce is the most common way to end a marriage. Since 6 April 2022 there is no fault to prove and no list of five facts to pick from. Under section 1 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 as amended, you give the court a statement that the marriage has broken down irretrievably, and the court must treat that statement as conclusive.

To obtain a divorce you must have been married for at least a year whereas for annulment you could make an application at any time after the marriage. Annulment differs from divorce because the grounds are restricted and can be hard to prove. The court also has to have jurisdiction. For an opposite-sex marriage the nullity tests are in section 5(3) of the Domicile and Matrimonial Proceedings Act 1973; for a same-sex marriage they are in Schedule A1 to that Act. They are close to, but not identical with, the divorce tests. In broad terms one of you must be habitually resident in England and Wales, or the applicant must have lived here for at least a year, or be domiciled here and have lived here for at least six months, or one of you must be domiciled here.

The main difference between a divorce and a marriage annulment is that with divorce the courts recognise the marriage is valid, whereas for an annulment the courts either treat the marriage as having never taken place where it is declared void, or treat the marriage as being legally recognised and in existence until the marriage is annulled where it is voidable. That is the heart of the divorce versus annulment question, and it drives everything else: the forms, the time limits and what happens to the money.

Common questions about marriage annulment

Divorce or annulment: which one applies to my marriage?

Annulment applies only if your marriage was void from the start, or if it falls within one of the voidable grounds in section 12. If neither fits, divorce is your route, and you cannot start a divorce until you have been married for a year.

Three questions usually settle it, and you can work through them here. A short marriage, a marriage you were pressured into, or a marriage you have since discovered was never valid are the situations where annulling a marriage is genuinely in play. Unhappiness, however serious, is a divorce.

Getting this wrong is expensive rather than fatal. Filing for an annulment on a ground that does not apply loses you the court fee and the months, and you then start again with a divorce. Filing for divorce when the marriage was void means the court is ending something that was never there. The facts that decide it are usually small and specific, which is exactly what a free consultation is for.

Can partners in a civil partnership apply for an annulment?

To be recognised as being successfully entered into a civil partnership you must both be 18 or over, or 16 or over if you registered before 27 February 2023, and must not be in a civil partnership with someone else, or married to someone else, at the time of establishing your civil partnership. If your civil partnership does not satisfy these requirements and conditions, then you can apply to the family courts to have the partnership annulled. The voidable grounds for a civil partnership are narrower than for a marriage.

It is important to note that the annulment of a civil partnership could affect the rights you have as a civil partner. These rights mainly concern the family home and spousal maintenance.

In a civil partnership the home you share is classified as a shared home. If, however you annul your civil partnership and your partner is the legal owner of the house, then they can decide to dispose the home by way of a sale or lease without having to obtain your consent. Furthermore, you will also lose your right to a share of your partner’s estate if they die once the civil partnership is annulled. The right to apply to the court for maintenance is not lost, however. Paragraph 1 of Schedule 5 to the Civil Partnership Act 2004 lets the court make financial provision orders on making a nullity order, just as it can on a dissolution.

Can you annul a deathbed marriage?

Sometimes, and the ground depends entirely on the facts. A marriage arranged in the last days of someone’s life raises questions about consent and capacity, which sit in section 12(1)(c) and (d). Our guide to deathbed wedding marriages explains how the law permits those weddings and where challenges arise.

What is a religious annulment?

Religious annulment is another form of the termination your marriage. You can obtain religious annulment through a church tribunal under the Catholic Church. Instead of the courts, the local bishop can grant a religious annulment. The purpose of a religious annulment is to allow any second marriages which will be recognised by the church. However, this religious annulment is not a legal annulment and is not recognised under the English Law.

Arrange a free consultation today

Our family law specialists work in family law and nothing else. That focus is deliberate, because nullity is a corner of the law where small facts decide the outcome.

If you are considering a marriage annulment, or someone has served a nullity application on you, talk to our annulment lawyers before the clock runs down. Call 0330 094 5880 for a free initial consultation, or let us call you back. You can otherwise book a time that suits you.

Our family lawyers advise nationally, including our family lawyers in Oxford. We will guide you through the grounds, the deadline and the forms, so you know exactly where you stand.