Divorce and death are not the only things that can sever the union between a married couple.  An annulment is another way a marriage can be ended. While a divorce ends a valid marriage, an annulment ends a marriage that should not have been valid in the first place.

What Is an Annulment?

An annulment is a court ruling stating that a marriage was never valid. You are likely family with the phrase “null and void,” which means something is not legal or enforceable. The same idea applies to a marriage.

An annulment declares that a marriage does not exist in a legal sense after the court ruling. In the eyes of Texas marriage law, it erases it as though the marriage never happened.

An annulment lawsuit is a petition to ask a court to declare that a marriage never existed or is void. This means that it is possible to petition the court to annul a marriage that was entered into under certain statutory false pretenses.

What Are the Annulment Requirements in Texas?

The annulment requirements in Texas include the grounds cited and filing the petition in the correct court within the time limit.

1. Legal Grounds: The marriage can be annulled based on specific grounds such as bigamy, fraud, impotence, mental incapacity at the time of marriage, underage marriage, or if one party was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of marriage.
2. Time Limits: Annulment must be filed within a certain time frame. For example, if one party was underage, they must file within two years of reaching the legal age of consent.
3. Jurisdiction: The filing party must reside in Texas, and the court must have jurisdiction over both parties.

Legal Grounds for Annulments

There are several legal grounds that you will have to show to get an annulment in Texas.  The court may invalidate a marriage if you can show the following:

• You and your spouse are blood relatives. Your spouse is your father, mother, sister, uncle or aunt
• You or your spouse is in another marriage that was never terminated
• Your spouse is under the legal age to get married
• You or your spouse hid something that was essential to the marriage
• You or your spouse was forced to get married
• You or your spouse was too intoxicated during the ceremony to consent marriage
• One spouse is unable to have sexual intercourse

To file for annulment using any of these grounds, you must meet requirements for each of these grounds. For example, if you married someone who is 16 years old or older but fewer than 18 with consent from that person’s parents, then your marriage was valid and cannot be annulled.  The courts will declare the marriage void if the parents did not consent to that marriage. If the court grants the annulment, then it will be like the marriage never existed.

In a situation where the marriage ceremony was conducted when one of the parties was too intoxicated, the court will not grant an annulment if the parties continued to live together after they got sober.  If the spouse is seeking an annulment because of impotence of the other party, the court will only grant it if that impotence is permanent. So getting an annulment can actually be a complex process depending on the specific circumstances of the couples involved.

Filing a Suit for Annulment

To get an annulment, you must file a document in the district court for the county you reside in Texas, and you must have lived there for more than six months.  The suit is called “A Suit to Declare Void the Marriage or Petitioner and Respondent”. The petitioner in this case is the person filing for annulment while the other spouse is the respondent.

What happens to the children?

If the two parties have biological children or children that they had adopted, a suit to set up custody of the children will be joined with the annulment.  This suit is also referred to as a Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship (SAPRC). The court joins the suit with the annulment so that it can make orders for custody, visitation and child support concerning the children.  Children can make the whole annulment process very complex and that means that you will need to consult a resourceful family law attorney to guide you through the process.

Annulled Marriage vs Void Marriage

An annulled marriage is one erased by the court through a legal proceeding while a void marriage was never valid under Texas law.

Here are 4 examples of reasons for a marriage to be invalid in Texas:

1. The parties are or were in a step-parent/step-child relationship.
2. One party was legally married at the time of the void marriage.
3. The parties are too closely related, such as siblings, first cousins, or parent/child.
4. One party is under 18 and married without court permission.

The crucial difference between a void marriage and an annulment is that a void marriage cannot be valid.

Annulment in Texas FAQs

What is the difference between an annulment and a divorce?

An annulment is a court ruling that erases the marriage legally while a divorce ends a marriage without erasing any legal record of it.

How long after a marriage can you get an annulment?

There are 3 limits for annulments in Texas: 1) Within one year if your spouse divorced someone else less than 30 days before the wedding; 2) Within 30 days if you married less than 72 hours after getting your marriage license; 3) Before the underage spouse turns 18.

Does Texas have a residency requirement for annulment?

No, Texas has no minimum residency requirement for annulments. You can file for an annulment if you are married in Texas or one spouse lives in Texas.