Annulment of marriage is a legal procedure that cancels a marriage, making it as if it never took place. Annulment is different from divorce as it declares the marriage void, rather than ending a legally valid marriage. In the UK, annulments are granted under specific circumstances, such as if one spouse was already married, if the marriage was not consummated, or if one spouse was forced into the marriage.

As with divorce, an annulment is a means to end a marriage, however, unlike divorce, you don't have to wait a year and can annul a marriage any time after the wedding.

In order to annul a marriage, you either need to prove that the marriage was not valid in the first place or that is has become substantially flawed or defective.

Reasons a marriage is considered invalid or 'void' can include:

• If one or both parties are under the age of 16

• If you discover that you and your partner are closely related

• If one party was already married or in a civil partnership at the time of the wedding

Reasons a marriage may have become substantially flawed may include:

• If the marriage wasn't consummated (although this doesn't apply to same-sex couples)

• If one or both parties did not consent to the marriage or was forced into it

• If one party had a sexually transmitted disease at the time of the wedding

• If the woman was pregnant by another man at the time of the wedding

There are two types of annulments; a legal and religious annulment. Under the Catholic Church, you can get an annulment through a church tribunal and an annulment of marriage can be given by a local bishop. Typical reasons for a religious annulment include adultery at the time of the marriage, abortion, or one half of the couple lacking religious faith. If an annulment is granted, then any second marriages will be recognised by the church. It is important to remember that a religious annulment is not a legal one. To ensure that all ties are severed, and that the marriage is no longer recognised under law, you must also obtain a legal marriage annulment. A religious annulment is not recognized in English law.

A legal annulment falls into two categories:

• Void

• Voidable

A void marriage will be, in theory, treated as though it never happened. Therefore, you don't have to seek an annulment from the Court. However, we would always recommend doing so as it may cause problems if you wish to remarry in future. In a voidable marriage, the marriage is still valid until a Decree of Nullity is granted by the Court.

A marriage can be annulled if it is void or voidable. A void marriage is one that was never legally valid, such as if one or both parties were already married or if they are closely related. A voidable marriage is one that can be legally ended due to certain circumstances, such as if one party was forced into the marriage or if one party was not of sound mind at the time of the marriage. To annul a marriage, an application must be made to the court.

If you want to annul a marriage, you must first fill in a nullity petition, which your solicitor can help you with. You then need to send two copies of this to your nearest divorce Court and pay the fee.

Once you have done this, the other party has eight days to respond to your nullity petition, to let the Court know whether or not they agree that the marriage should be annulled. If they agree, you can then fill in an application for a 'decree nisi' and a statement in support of annulment, which confirms that what you said in your nullity petition is true. Again, your solicitor will be able to help you with this.

Finally, six weeks after you get your decree nisi, you can apply for a decree absolute, which is the final legal document stating that the marriage has been legally annulled.

If you are considering an annulment, it is advised that you speak to a solicitor to discuss your options.

Yes, a marriage can be annulled if it has not been consummated. Under UK law, if a marriage has not been consummated due to the incapacity of either party to consummate or the unwillingness of either party to do so, it can be annulled. However, the application for annulment must be made within a certain time frame and there are other grounds for annulment as well. This does not apply to same sex couples who marry. It's important to take expert legal advice if you're considering an annulment.

There are various options when it comes to ending a marriage and a specialist family law solicitor will be able to discuss these in relation to your specific circumstances to find the best way forward. Speak to our marriage Annulment solicitors today on 0800 689 1058.

A marriage can be annulled if it is void or voidable. A void marriage is one that is not legally valid from the beginning, such as if the couple are closely related. A voidable marriage is one that is valid but can be annulled due to certain circumstances, such as if one party was forced into the marriage or if one party was already married. The annulment must be granted by a court. Your marriage is void or voidable if:

• You're closely related to the person you married

• Both of you were under the age of 16 at the time of the marriage

• One half of the couple was already married or in a civil partnership

• You did not consent to the marriage (e.g. forced marriage)

• The other person had a sexually transmitted disease when you got married

• Your new wife was pregnant by someone else when you got married

• One half of a couple is in the process of transitioning to a different gender

• The marriage wasn't consummated (this does not apply to same-sex couples)

When seeking an annulment, it is possible for the Court to stop a person for applying for an annulment of marriage. This could be due to evidence showing that the person knew about the situation beforehand and accepted it.

If you cannot annul your marriage, then you will need to follow the procedure for divorce. This means you will have to wait a year before starting divorce procedures.

If you wish to annul your marriage due to one of the above reasons, then contact our Annulment Solicitors today.