Can I get an Annulment?

In a California annulment, the court determines that a marriage or domestic partnership is not legally valid.

Marriages or domestic partnerships that are incestuous or bigamous are never valid. Others can be declared “void” or “voidable” for other reasons. The grounds for annulment in California include:

• The marriage was of force, fraud, or one of the spouses suffers from a physical or mental incapacity;
• One of the spouses was legally too young to marry or enter a domestic partnership;
• or One of the spouses was already married or in a domestic partnership

More information about the grounds for annulment in California, as well as time limits for filing for an annulment, is available from the California Family Code, sections 2210 et seq. Legal annulment is different that annulment by religious organizations. Your inability to get a legal annulment should have no impact on your attempts to secure a religious annulment. In California, an annulment is very rare. If you ask to have your marriage or domestic partnership annulled, you will have to go to a hearing with a judge.