Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Annulment differs from divorce where the court ends an otherwise legal marriage on a specific date.

In strict legal terminology, annulment refers only to making a voidable marriage null; if the marriage is void ab initio, then it is automatically null, although a legal declaration of nullity is required to establish this. The process of obtaining such a declaration is similar to the annulment process.

Grounds for annulment
Grounds for a marriage being voidable or void ab initio vary in different legal jurisdictions, but are typically limited to fraud, bigamy, and mental incompetence including that:

Either spouse was already married to someone else at the time of the marriage;
Either spouse was too young to be married, or too young without required court or parental consent;
Either spouse was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the marriage;
Either spouse was mentally incompetent at the time of the marriage;
If the consent to the marriage was based on fraud or force;
Either spouse was physically incapable to be married (typically, inability to have sexual intercourse which persists) at the time of the marriage;
The marriage is prohibited by law due to the relationship between the parties.
Infidelity exists in marriage, or partners are unfaithful
 

Annulment in the Catholic Church
In the case of the Catholic Church, annulment does not mean the same thing as divorce, though some criticize the Catholic Church of preaching that all marriages are permanent but providing the means of annulment. These two seeming opposing ideas can be reconciled by understanding that the annulment process is not a method to dissolve a marriage but rather to determine whether a marriage was valid. While annulment is sometimes taken advantage of in practice to get around the "no divorce" rule, that is not the Church's reason for the availability of annulment. According to the Church, an annulment affirms the Scriptural basis of divorce and at the same time affirms that in a true marriage, a man and a woman become one flesh before the eyes of God.

For this reason (or for other reasons that render the marriage null and void) the Church, after an examination of the situation by the competent ecclesiastical tribunal, can declare the nullity of a marriage, i.e., that the marriage never existed.132 In this case the contracting parties are free to marry, provided the natural obligations of a previous union are discharged. -Catechism of the Catholic Church #1629

Some Catholics worry that their children will be considered illegitimate if they get an annulment. However, Canon 1137 of the Code of Canon Law specifically affirms the legitimacy of children born in both recognized and putative marriages (those later declared null).

An annulment verified by the Catholic Church is independent from obtaining a civil divorce, although before beginning a process in front of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, it has to be clear that the marriage community cannot be rebuilt.

If someone has all the signs of being married previously, he or she must get an annulment before entering into a marriage in the Catholic Church, even if the individual was not married in the Catholic Church previously. Catholics acknowledge the indissolubility of marriage for any baptized persons who give themselves freely in the bond of marriage and recognizes the marriages of other Christians in most cases.
The source of this article is Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL

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