An annulment is the dissolution of a marriage, but it isn’t the same as a divorce. An annulment makes it so it’s like a marriage never happened legally. To get an annulment in Virginia, you have to meet certain requirements.
First, you have to have lived in the state for at least six months and you must file for an annulment in the county where you reside. Virginia law provides a number of legal grounds under which an annulment might be granted, but you have to be prepared to prove that these grounds exist in your case. Proving some of the grounds might be difficult, especially if the other person objects to the annulment, so working with an experienced family law attorney can be helpful.
First, an annulment can occur if one person was coerced or falsely lulled into the marriage via fraud or duress. This is also true if one person can be proven to me mentally incapable of making a decision to become married.
In some cases, if a person lied about or hid certain things before a marriage, then the other person can seek an annulment. If one person was convicted of a felony, engaged in prostitution or was impotent and the other person did not know before the marriage, then these can be grounds for annulment. Annulment might also be a possibility if the woman becomes pregnant by another man or if the man impregnates another woman and either of these occur within ten months of the marriage.
It should be noted that a Virginia court will not allow an annulment for most of these reasons if the two people continue to live with each other after one person gains knowledge about the activity. So, for example, if you believe you were coerced fraudulently into a marriage, you should stop living with that person if you plan to seek an annulment.
Source: FindLaw, “Virginia Annulment and Prohibited Marriage Laws,” accessed April 22, 2016
