Annulment in New Jersey

Whether you are entitled to a legal annulment or not has nothing at all to do with the length of your marriage.

I've have many people call and say, "We've only been married a short time, it didn't work out, so I want an annulment."

It doesn't work that way.

Unless there was a substantial fraud perpetrated upon you, or another legal ground...as discussed below...even if you were only married for 10 days and you want out, you'll need a divorce...you don't qualify for an annulment without the fraud.

People ask me regularly "Steve, what is the difference between an annulment and a divorce?"

Here's the easy answer:

A divorce ends a marriage.

An annulment says that the marriage was never valid from the beginning, often because of some type of a fraud.

"Fraud?" they say.

"Do you mean that she lied about her age?"

Well, lying about one's age is not nice when you are planning to marry that person, but such a fraud would not likely be sufficiently offensive to support an application to a Court for an annulment (unless a party to a marriage was under age 18, in which case the right to an annulment does exist.)

If the annulment is based upon fraud, then in order to qualify for an annulment, the fraud must go to the heart of marriage agreement.

Here's how Professor Fabian Palomino, Esq. taught me about one of the more common grounds for a person to seek an annulment in law school in 1983, namely fraud:

Man says to woman “Honey, I cannot wait to marry you!

I want to have 2.3 kids, a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence, the dog, the cat, and everything else that goes along with a great marriage!"

Woman says, “Great! Let’s do it!"

The couple gets married.

Soon after the marriage, the wife says to the husband “OK! I can’t wait to start a family with you! Let’s start trying tonight!“

To which the husband says in response, “Well, dear, there’s something that I need to tell you."

"Oh?" says she.

Husband continues:

"When I was 16 years old, I had a bad case of gonorrhea, and I am now sterile. I cannot have children.“

The wife then says “What? Then why did you tell me you couldn’t wait to have 2.3 children with me?“

To which the husband responds “Well, I thought that if I told you the truth, you would not marry me.“

Now THAT'S the type of fraud that will support the wife's request for an annulment.

THAT is "...a fraud in the inducement of the marriage".

If the wife files for an annulment (as opposed to a divorce) based upon that significant lie, the Court has the power to annul the purported "marriage".

This means that the Court has the power to enter a Court Order ruling that the marriage was never properly entered into, and that therefore the parties were never married.

Of course, fraud is not the only ground for an annulment in New Jersey.

In New Jersey, the law regarding annulment is governed by statute. The statute outlines several grounds upon which a marriage may be annulled:

1. Bigamy: If either party has another spouse living at the time of the marriage.
   
   
2. Prohibited Degrees of Consanguinity (ie, a woman cannot marry her brother): If the parties are within the degrees prohibited by law.
   
   
3. Impotence: If either party was physically and incurably impotent at the time of the marriage, provided the other party was unaware of this condition and has not subsequently ratified the marriage.
   
   
4. Lack of Capacity: If either party lacked the capacity to marry due to mental condition, influence of intoxicants, drugs, or similar agents, or if there was a lack of mutual assent, duress, or fraud as to the essentials of marriage, and the marriage has not been subsequently ratified.
   

   5. Underage Marriag: If the marriage was entered into by a person under the age of 18, unless                   confirmed by the party after reaching the age of 18.

Additionally, New Jersey courts have established that the fraud required to annul a consummated marriage must be of an extreme character and go to the very essence of the marriage relationship. However, an unconsummated marriage can be annulled for fraud that would render an ordinary contract voidable.

For example, in one notable case, the court held that a husband's concealment of heroin addiction was a fraud that went to the essentials of the marriage, and upon disclosure and non-ratification, the marriage could be annulled.

In cases involving underage marriage, the statute specifically allows for annulment if the marriage was entered into by a person under the age of 18 and not confirmed after reaching the age of 18.

These principles are derived from both statutory provisions and case law interpretations, ensuring that annulments in New Jersey are granted based on well-defined legal grounds.

Divorce, on the other hand, specifically acknowledges that the parties entered into a valid marriage but recognizes that one or both parties have "proven" (the judge rarely even thinks about it, but that's for another article) that they have grounds for divorce.

The Court then ends the marriage and enters an order determining who gets what, and if they have kids the Court decides (more often the parties themselves agree) how custody and related issues will be handled.

Get it?