Many people make the mistake of using the words divorce and annulment interchangeably. However, they are in fact two completely different processes. A divorce acknowledges that you and your spouse were married and that your marriage failed, and legally ends your union.
An annulment on the other hand erases your marriage altogether — it’s as if you and your spouse were never married in the first place. Yet while obtaining a divorce is a relatively simple affair available to any married couple meeting the residency requirement, an annulment has some specific requirements.
According to the Minnesota Judicial Branch, the following conditions allow for an annulment:
- You or your spouse has mental illness, insanity, mental incapacity, and the other party was unaware of the mental illness, insanity or mental incapacity at the time of the marriage ceremony.
- Either you or your spouse was under the influence of alcohol, drugs or another incapacitating substance at the time of your marriage ceremony.
- Force or fraud was used to obtain consent to the marriage.
- Either you or your spouse is unable to consummate the marriage with sexual intercourse and the other party did not realize this at the time of your marriage ceremony.
- You or your spouse was under the legal age for marriage. In Minnesota, the legal age for marriage is age 18 — or age 16 or 17 with the consent of the parents, a guardian or the court. A Juvenile Court Judge must approve the application for a marriage license if either party is 16 or 17.
To learn if your marriage qualifies for an annulment, contact an experienced divorce attorney for more information.
