Annulment of Marriage/Civil Partnership

You will need to show that the marriage or civil partnership:

• was never legally valid (‘void’)
• was legally valid, but meets one of the reasons that makes it ‘voidable’

You can apply to annul a marriage or civil partnership if it was not legally valid in the first place, for example:

• you are closely related to the person you married or registered civil partnership with
• one or both of you were under 16
• one of you was already married or in a civil partnership

If a marriage or civil parternship was never legally valid, the law says that it never existed. However, you may need legal paperwork (a ‘decree of nullity’) to prove this - for example if you want to get married again or register your civil partnership again.

You can annul a marriage or a civil partnership for a number of reasons, such as:

• it was not consummated - you have not had sexual intercourse with the person you married or registered civil partnership with since the wedding (does not apply for same sex couples)
• you did not properly consent to the marriage or civil partnership - for example you were forced into it
• the other person had a sexually transmitted disease (STD) when you got married or registered civil partnership
• the woman was pregnant by another man when you got married or registered civil partnership
• one spouse or civil partner is in the process of transitioning to a different gender

As with divorce and dissolution of civil partnership, your marriage or civil partnership legally exists until you annul it using one of these reasons.

For a family court in England & Wales to have jurisdiction to annul your marriage or civil partnership, you or your spouse/civil partner must have either:

• lived in England or Wales for at least a year
• had a permanent home in England or Wales for at least 6 months

Unlike divorce and dissolution of civil partnership, you can apply for annulment in the first year of your marriage / civil partnership or any time after. However, if you apply years after the marriage or civil partnership, you might be asked to explain the delay.

This varies from court to court and from case to case, depending on the complexity of the case. An annulment of marriage or civil partnership process can take up to 6 months. However, in complicated case, the process can take much longer than 6 months and time would vary depending on the complexity of the matter.

Financial settlement is an arrangement under which a couple’s assets and financial affairs are separated upon annulment of marriage or civil partnership. In England and Wales, the act of annulment of marriage/civil partnership itself doesn’t put an end to the financial relationship between you and your partner. An application for financial settlement is made to the family court by completing application form A.

Obtaining a financial settlement when you are annuling your marriage or civil partnership is important because outstanding financial claims may come back to disrupt your lives even years after your annulment has been finalised. This is because in England and Wales, even when your marriage or civil partnership is annulled, you still retain the ability to make financial claims against your ex and vice versa, and there’s no time limit for making these. This is why it’s crucial to put your financial affairs in order and have a binding court order stating what your financial arrangements with your ex husband or wife are.

Our specialist team of annulment solicitors is aware of the sensitivity in matters involving annulment of marriage and that every individual is in a different situation. To make your life easier, you can seek expert legal advice and representations from our specialist annulment solicitors who are highly trained and experienced in all aspects of annulment laws and court procedures and will guide and support you each throughout the court process to annul your marriage or civil partneship. We will cut through the legal jargon and ensure you understand exactly what’s happening at all times. Our team of experienced annulment solicitors will provide the required legal help and guidance with step by step procedure for getting annulment of your marriage or civil partnership.

Our team of annulment solicitors will advise and assist to cater for your individuals needs. We will discuss the possible grounds on which you can apply for nullity of your marriage or civil partnership after gathering all the relevant factual information from you. Our annulment solicitors will explain to you the court procedures in very simple and clear terms and fully guide you through the procedures and carry out all the follow up work until the annulment order is issued by the family court.

The court fee for filing annulment of marriage or civil partnership application in the family court is £593 which has to be paid at the time of filing for annulment. Petitioners with very low income may qualify for court fee exemption.

You can apply for annulment of your marriage soon after your marriage. Unlike divorce, you do not have to wait for a year.

You can apply for annulment of marriage or civil partnership by filling in a nullity petition. You should send 2 copies of the petition to your nearest family court and keep your own copy.

The Respondent to the nullity petition must respond to your nullity petition within 8 days, saying whether they agree for the marriage or civil partnership to be be annulled.

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’:

• statement in support of annulment - void marriage
• statement in support of annulment - voidable marriage

You can apply for a decree of nullity (decree absolute) 6 weeks after you get the decree nisi.  A ‘decree of nullity’ is the final legal document which says that the marriage or civil partnership has been annulled.

To apply for a decree of nullity, you need to fill in the notice of application for decree nisi to be made absolute.

Once the Respondent has responded to the nullity petition and has agreed to the annulment of marriage or civil partnership, you can apply for a decree nisi. The decree nisi will confirm that the court does not see any reason why the marriage or civil partnership cannot be annulled.

In most cases, you do not need to go to family court for annulment of marriage or partnership and the court will deal with the matters on papers.

An annulment is a legal process that declares a marriage or civil partnership null and void, as if it never legally existed. It can be applied for at any time after the ceremony for a void marriage/civil partnership, or within 3 years for a voidable one.

An annulment declares that the marriage or civil partnership was never legally valid, whereas a divorce or dissolution legally ends a valid relationship.

Yes. Many people seek annulments for religious reasons, especially if their faith does not permit divorce. A legal annulment is separate from a religious annulment granted by a church or other faith authority.

Yes. Unlike divorce or dissolution, you do not need to wait 12 months before applying for an annulment.

You can still make claims for financial settlements and child arrangements after an annulment. Our annulment solicitors can guide you through these processes.

In most cases, annulments are dealt with through paperwork, but if your case is contested or complex, you may need to attend a court hearing.