Annulment is a legal concept which has been the subject of much misunderstanding among the general public. Many often confuse the concept of a religious annulment of a marriage with that of a legal one.

Annulments provided by court order are similar to a divorce in that at the end of the process a court determines a person’s marital status. The important distinction between divorce and annulment is a divorce terminates an existing, valid marriage, whereas in an annulment the court determines the marriage was never an actual marriage. In the eyes of the law, an annulled marriage never existed.

Florida has not passed statutes governing annulment, but Florida courts have issued rulings which over time have come to govern how annulments are addressed. It is possible to obtain an annulment in Florida, but the road to obtaining one is uncommon and difficult.

Florida’s courts have indicated a few judicially recognized “grounds,” or reasons which would allow a court to grant a marital annulment. Courts first determine if a marriage is “void” or “voidable”. A void marriage is one invalid from the time the parties commenced it. A voidable marriage is one that wasn’t automatically invalid at the commencement of the marriage. All void marriages can be annulled. Some voidable marriages can be annulment at the discretion of the court.

The grounds for annulment are:

• The marriage is void due to bigamy (a spouse is legally married to more than one person),
• incestuous (the couple is closely related by blood or marriage),
• the union consists of two underage people,
• because one spouse is permanently mentally incapacitated and unable to consent to marriage.

The marriage is voidable because:

• one of the spouses lacked the capacity (ability) to consent to marriage due suffering from a serious, but temporary mental issue or was under the influence of intoxicating alcohol or drugs at the wedding ceremony.
• one of the spouses used fraudulent acts or misrepresentations to trick the other spouse into entering the marriage.
• one or both spouses only entered into the marriage because they were under duress (defined as extreme coercion or possibly even force).
• one spouse is underage and entered the marriage without the consent of a parent or guardian.
• one spouse is impotent, and the other spouse was unaware of the condition at the time of marriage.
• one or both spouses entered into the marriage in jest or as a joke.

In Florida, marriages which are voidable due to fraud can be validated by the mere act of sexual consummation after the innocent party becomes aware of the fraud, duress, or temporary lack of capacity which led to the marriage. For example, if a spouse entered into marriage while drunk, but then had sexual relations with the other spouse after the effects of the alcohol wears off, the marriage cannot be annulled.

After an annulment is granted, neither of the former spouses can assert the property rights of a spouse. Neither can inherit from the other and neither can claim the other’s retirement, insurance, or other benefits. The court will not divide the couple’s property as it would in a divorce.