1. When you can annul a marriage

Annulment is a way of ending a marriage, like divorce.

Unlike divorce, you can get a marriage annulled at any time after the wedding (in a divorce, you have to wait at least a year).

You may want an annulment if you have religious reasons for not wanting a divorce.

However, you need to show that the marriage was either not valid in the first place, or is defective for one of the reasons given below.

1. Your marriage is not legally valid - ‘void’ marriages

You can annul a marriage if it was not legally valid in the first place, eg:

If a marriage was not legally valid, the law says that it never existed.

However, you may need legal paperwork to prove this - eg if you want to get married again.

You can annul a marriage if:

it wasn’t consummated - you haven’t had sex with the person you married since the wedding (doesn’t apply for same sex couples)
you didn’t properly consent to the marriage - eg you were drunk or forced into it
the other person had a sexually transmitted disease when you got married
the woman was pregnant by another man when you got married

Marriages annulled for these reasons are known as ‘voidable’ marriages.

You can apply to get a marriage annulled any time after the wedding.

To annul a marriage, fill in a nullity petition.

Refer to the guidance notes on completing a nullity petition.

Send 2 copies of the form to your nearest divorce court, and keep your own copy.

Filing a nullity petition form costs £550.

You may be able to get help with court fees if you’re on benefits or a low income.

The other person must respond to your nullity petition within 8 days, saying if they agree the marriage should be annulled.

If they agree, you can apply for a ‘decree nisi’.

To get a decree nisi, fill in the application for decree nisi/conditional order.

You must also fill in a statement confirming that what you said in your nullity petition is true.

Use one of the forms below, depending on whether your marriage is ‘void’ or ‘voidable’: