We made a mistake, we should have never gotten married. Under what circumstances could I get an annulment? What if we’ve only been married for a short time?
Can I get an annulment? Transcript
Hi, I’m Lee Rosen. Can I get an annulment? That question comes up all the
time. People get into these marriages, a little bit of time goes by, and
they realize they need to get out. And we hear a lot about annulments in
the media, whether it’s Britney Spears, or Carmen Electra, or Renee
Zellweger, it seems like all these celebrities get in and out of these
marriages, and somehow get annulments.
Can you get an annulment? The answer is probably “No”, but let’s talk about
it. Chances are you can’t get an annulment in North Carolina. There are
very limited circumstances where it is possible.
Number one is if one of the parties is impotent. If there is not a physical
possibility of a sexual relationship, then an annulment is a possibility.
Another situation is where one of the parties is underage. That makes you
eligible for an annulment.
Another situation is where one of the parties lacks mental capacity to
understand the marriage. In that circumstance, an annulment may be a
possibility. One of the more unusual circumstances is where the parties got
married under false pretenses, usually where one party lies to the other
about being pregnant.
And, finally, there’s the option of getting an annulment when parties are
too closely related to one another, when, for instance, they are siblings,
and they get married. There are some very specific requirements for who is
able to get an annulment when they are too closely related. But for most
people, the answer is that an annulment is not a possibility.
So, if you need an annulment, there is a very simple court process that you
can go through, and an annulment is pretty routinely granted if you fall
into one of those five groups.
Now, there is one special group where you don’t really need an annulment
because in fact, you are not married, and that is where it’s a bigamous
marriage, where one person marries another person who is already married.
That’s a bigamous marriage, and technically, that marriage is eligible for
an annulment, but there really isn’t a marriage there at all.
So, for most people, annulment is just not an option. We get asked that
question all the time, but it’s probably not something they’re going to get
at that point.
