Annulment — When the Marriage Was Never Real, the Law Can Say So

An annulment declares that a marriage was never valid — not that it ended, but that, in the eyes of the law, it never truly existed. In North Carolina, only void and voidable marriages can be annulled, and only on narrow, specific grounds. We prove those grounds where they exist, and we defend the validity of a marriage when an annulment claim doesn’t hold.

The Movie Myth — a Short Marriage Is Not a Ground

Most people who ask about an annulment want one because the marriage was brief — a few weeks, a month, a quick mistake — the way annulment looks on screen. North Carolina law does not work that way. There is no “short marriage,” “quick,” or “we changed our minds” annulment: the marriage must fit one of the narrow grounds below, and brevity, regret, and second thoughts are none of them. For nearly every short marriage, the path is divorce after the one-year separation — not annulment. We’ll tell you honestly which one fits.

Annulment Is Not Divorce — and the Difference Is Money

A divorce ends a valid marriage. An annulment says there was no valid marriage to end. That distinction drives the finances: in an annulment, post-separation support can be available, but equitable distribution of property and permanent alimony are not. For a supporting spouse, that can make annulment attractive; for a dependent spouse, it can put real claims at risk. The right path is a strategic decision, not a label — and we’ll help you weigh it.

Voidable Marriages

A voidable marriage is valid until it is successfully attacked by one of the spouses during their lifetime. A marriage may be voidable where:

• The parties are nearer of kin than first cousins;
• Either party is under the age of sixteen (16);
• The marriage was entered under the representation and belief that the female is pregnant, the parties separate within 45 days of marriage, and no child is born to the parties within 10 lunar months of the date of separation;
• Either party is physically impotent; or
• Either party was incompetent at the time of marriage.

Void Marriages

A void marriage is void ab initio — void from its very beginning. In North Carolina, a bigamous marriage is a void marriage. Even though it is a legal nullity, it still takes a lawsuit to declare the marriage void and to correct North Carolina vital records.

Experience in a Narrow Field

Annulment is a complex area that is rarely litigated, so genuine experience is scarce. Rice Law has prosecuted annulments for our clients and handled the issue of bigamous marriages — and in at least one case, we obtained a money judgment for the fraud associated with a bigamous marriage. A void or voidable marriage does not correct itself; we turn the impediment or the fraud into a record a court can act on.

Whether you need to establish that a marriage was void or voidable, or to defend a valid marriage against an annulment claim that would wrongly strip your rights, we’ll give you the honest read — including whether annulment or divorce truly serves you better.