Virginia Cornwell is a Columbus Annulment Attorney and Columbus Family Law Lawyer, representing clients throughout Ohio.
1. Annulment (sometimes called annulment of marriage) is not the same thing as dissolution (sometimes called dissolution of marriage, dissolutionment, disolutionment, etc). In a dissolution, the marriage is ended by agreement, but as far as the law is concerned, the parties had a legal marriage, it is just over now. In Annulment, the marriage is voided, erased. Legally, the law has erased the marriage.
2. Unlike dissolution, where the parties must agree on everything and file together, an Annulment can either be agreed OR contested. That means that the parties can either file together, or one person can file for annulment on his or her own.
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3. Just like in divorce, there must be grounds for annulment in order for an Ohio court to grant the annulment. The grounds for divorce in Ohio are NOT the same as the grounds for Annulment. The most notable difference in the grounds is that in Annulment, the parties cannot simply agree that they are incompatible. There has to be some defect in the marriage that is serious enough that the law will allow the marriage to be erased instead of simply ended. To read more about the possible grounds for annulment of marriage in Ohio, click here.
4. Even if grounds for annulment exist in your case, it doesn’t automatically mean you can file for annulment. Usually, it has to be the “aggrieved party”, meaning the person who was wronged, who files for the annulment. To learn more about who is the aggrieved party, read Ohio Revised Code 3105.32, and Ohio Revised Code 3105.31. In addition, there are time limits for annulment. In many cases, the person who was wronged must file within two years, but there are different time limits for different grounds for annulment. To read more about time limits for Annulment in Ohio, click here.
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5. Ohio has a separate statute dealing with changing names after an annulment. In annulment cases, the court may, if it wants to, change the name of a person back to what it was before the parties married, even if neither of the parties requests the name change. This differs from the Ohio divorce statute about changing the party’s name , which requires the consent of the parties to change a party’s name. This may be especially important in a case where the husband is the aggrieved party and he wants to have the court “take his name back” from the wife.
6. Ohio law allows people to get restraining orders against the other person while an annulment case is pending, in order to prevent the other spouse from harassing or harming themselves or their children. The restraining orders can also prevent people from leaving the state with a child, selling or hiding assets, etc. See Ohio Rule of Civil Procedure 75 (I).
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7. Even though the court may ultimately find the marriage to be invalid, the court may (but is not required to) make “temporary orders” of support while the annulment is pending. The court can also make orders regarding temporary custody while the case is pending. Temporary orders might be issued in a contested annulment case, but are almost never ordered in annulments that are filed jointly. This is probably because when the parties jointly file the annulment papers, they want the marriage to be over as soon as possible, and the case will not be open long enough for temporary orders to be needed.
8. Annulment in Ohio may undo the marriage, but it does NOT undo the legitimacy of any children that were born during the marriage. The children still have the presumption of paternity that is afforded to children born during a marriage.
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9. A court cannot award BOTH an annulment and a divorce (or legal separation, dissolution, etc.) If one party files for annulment and the other party counterclaims for divorce or legal separation, that does not mean that annulment is now off the table. The court must decide if there are grounds for an annulment. Even if there are grounds for annulment, some of the grounds for annulment are also grounds for divorce. The best policy is for the court to allow the aggrieved party their choice of remedy, assuming that party has met his or her burden of proof.
10. In annulment, unlike divorce or dissolution (and sometimes legal separation), there is no property division, and no spousal support after the marriage is annulled.
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C says
I got married less than a year ago and have come to find out that my husband is mentally challenged with a low IQ. Can this be grounds for annulment?
D says
I need an anullment from my abusive husband
M says
What is the definition of fraud? I mean, in my eyes, my husband fraudulently represented himself as a law abiding citizen whom I thought would be a good father to my son. Turns out he is actually a drug addict. The only reason I married him was for my son and thinking he was a decent guy. He tricked me. Does this not qualify for an annulment?