Annulment of Marriage

Abstract

There are three categories of dissoluble marriages and three corresponding remedies provided by law. The first category includes marriages void from their inception. The remedy in this case is a declaration of nullity which voids the marriage as of the date of its inception, thereby erasing it completely from the records. In the second category are marriages which are voidable, that is, valid until objected to. The remedy for a voidable marriage is also a decree for nullity, the difference being that the marriage is not voided from the beginning, but from the time that the annulment decree is issued. The final category consists of those marriages which are valid when entered into but, because of marital offenses, subsequently become dissoluble. Here the remedy provided is divorce. The traditional remedy of annulment is too valuable a legal device to be discarded. Divorce has become so controversial that it is not unlikely that something will supplant it. Originally, the basis for divorce was the fault of one spouse, while the other remained legally "innocent." Today, in some states, there are grounds for divorce which are based not so much on fault as on misfortune. It may well be that divorce may come to be based on grounds of failure. But, through all this, the need for annulment would remain.