Annulment

It is not uncommon for a potential client to come into my office and ask, "Can I get an annulment?", or tell me that they want to have their marriage annulled instead of seeking a divorce. A lot of times these potential clients don't know the difference between an annulment and a divorce.

A divorce is a legal termination of a valid marriage - there was a marriage but it is now being dissolved. An annulment effectively declares that there was never a valid marriage at all - it never existed. Because the marriage never existed, the financial remedies normally available to divorcing parties, such as distribution of martial property and alimony, are usually not available pursuant to an annulment. Therefore, there can be significant financial motivations to seek an annulment rather than a divorce if an annulment is an available option. The problem is that most marriages won't qualify for an annulment.


In Mississippi the grounds for annulment are:

• Bigamy
• Kinship within the prohibited degree
• Lack of consent due to force or fraud
• Incapacity to consent due to age or lack of understanding
• Incurable impotency
• Adjudicated mental illness of either or both parties
• Failure to meet licensure requirements, if no cohabitation occurs
• Physical incapacity to enter into the marriage state
• Pregnancy of the wife by another at the time of marriage without the husband's knowledge

As you can see, the vast majority of marriages will not fall into one of these categories. Even if your situation does give you a ground for annulment, there is a tight timeline in which you must seek the annulment. Annulment actions based on age, physical or mental incapacity, lack of consent, or a wife's pregnancy by another have to be brought within six months of the time the ground "is or should have been discovered." Bigamous and incestuous marriages have no time limits and can be challenged at any time.

Occasionally a situation may pop up where an annulment may be available: a who wife finds out that her husband had been previously married in another state and never divorced, or a minor who eloped only to realize immediately that it was a mistake - but for most marriages annulment won't be an option.

If you think you may have grounds to annul your marriage you should contact a divorce and family law attorney immediately as you may need to act quickly.

Jonathan T. Day, Esq. is a divorce & family law attorney serving the Jackson, MS metro area.