Last Updated on: 11th October 2023, 06:39 pm

The annulment of a marriage or the nullity of the marriage means that the marriage is supposed never to have existed, and this is because the substantive conditions or certain formal conditions were not respected during the celebration of the marriage. It is also important to know that all requests do not necessarily result in the nullity of the marriage, and the final decision always belongs to the judge. To ask for the annulment of marriage is, of course, a decision with serious consequences, and a decision that should not be taken lightly.

The law providing for the sanction of the annulment of the marriage will determine who is responsible for showing that one of the essential conditions of the marriage has not been respected. Check if you have the right to ask for an annulment. You may wonder, “Who is responsible for proving the invalidity of the marriage?” Usually, for a nullity, only the spouse who has the grievance has the responsibility for proving the validity of the annulment of the marriage.

The causes of marriage annulment are diverse and varied. Remember, for a majority of annulments, only the spouse who considers themselves aggrieved has the right to request the annulment of the marriage, except when the marriage has been contracted without the free consent of both spouses or of one of them. On the other hand, when the annulment concerns a foreign marriage, it may be the national law of a foreign spouse that may determine for which causes the marriage may be annulled.

There is no need to introduce a preliminary procedure to examine the value of a foreign judgment, and the recognition of a decision is automatically provided that it does not contravene one of the reasons provided by law which may prevent its recognition. It is only necessary to verify that the defendant was summoned regularly, that the decision is not shocking in relation to US legal principles (eg inequality between the spouses) and that the defendant was able to defend themselves, and that no decision between the same spouses and on the same marriage has already been made.

If the applicable foreign law does not provide for annulment, it is very likely that the judge will rule out the provision of the foreign law that does not allow the spouses to appeal to a judge for annulment of the marriage, because of the contrariety of this provision with US law. Remember, foreign documents will have to be legalized or provided with an Apostille and, if necessary, translated. This procedure is different from another procedure, which is also available, which seeks to obtain enforceability and then makes it possible to involve the US law to enforce an annulment.

Remember, with a religious cancellation of a marriage, that an annulment of a marriage by a religious authority does not automatically entail legal effects. Also, in a case of nullity, in the State of New York, you have an unlimited period from the date of the marriage to have it canceled.

When there has been possession of a marital status and an act of a celebration of the marriage before a registrar, then the spouses are no longer able to request the nullity of the marriage. On the other hand, if there is a clandestine marriage or an incompetence of the civil officer, these defects in form may give rise to an annulment of the marriage. The marriage should, therefore, be publicly celebrated before a competent civil officer of the region where one of the spouses has a domicile or a residence at the date of the marriage.