Annulment

An annulment is a way of extinguishing the marriage. It’s a declaration that the marriage was never valid.

Generally, it’s only available within the first three years of the marriage. But it can be possible to get an annulment later on if you can explain the reason for the delay.

You can get a marriage annulled if it was void, or voidable.

Void marriages

Your marriage may be void if:

• You or your spouse were under 16 when you got married
• You are closely related
• One of you was married to, or in civil partnership with somebody else when you got married

 Voidable marriages

A marriage is ‘voidable’ and able to be annulled if:

• The marriage was not consummated
• Consent was not given for the marriage
• Your spouse had a sexually transmitted disease when you got married
• One spouse is transitioning to a different gender
• One spouse had a mental disorder at the time of the marriage

If you’d like to talk to us about annulling your marriage, please book a consultation. We can guide you through your options.

There are generally four steps in the process:

• The application: You start the process by making a nullity application. We can do this for you with a few basic details.
• Acknowledgement: Your spouse will acknowledge the service of the application and say whether or not they agree.
• Conditional order: if your spouse agrees to annul the marriage, the court has no reason not to grant it.
• Final order: To make it final, you apply for nullity of marriage order.
  The process typically takes around eight months. If your spouse doesn’t agree that the marriage should be annulled, then it might take a bit longer with negotiations.