How To Get A Marriage Annulment In Texas: Dallas & Frisco, TX
Looking to have your marriage annulled? Attorney Jeff Anderson can help. With offices across North Texas in Dallas, Frisco, and Plano, we’re right around the corner when you need us.
Unlike divorce, which ends a valid marriage, annulment is a legal procedure in which a judge declares a marriage ended because it was invalid when the marriage took place.
It is also important to know that with an annulment, property and child related issues will generally be treated just as they are with a divorce. The biggest difference between the two is that with an annulment, there is no 60-day waiting period for the process to be complete.
In Texas and most states, annulments are relatively uncommon because only a very narrow range of circumstances meet the specific legal requirements for consideration.
Section 6.102 of the Texas Family Code outlines the following circumstances in which annulment is an option:
– At least one of the parties is under age 16. In cases in which one of the parties is older than 16 but younger than 18, a marriage may be annulled if a parent has not provided consent.
– One of the parties was under the influence of alcohol or drugs and lacked the capacity to consent to the marriage.
– One of the parties was impotent at the time of the marriage.
– One of the parties was mentally incompetent.
– The marriage was forced or took place under duress or fraudulent circumstances.
– One of the parties was already married at the time of the marriage.
– One of the parties had been divorced for less than 30 days.
– The two parties married without abiding by the 72-hour waiting period after obtaining a marriage license.
– The parties are too closely related by blood or adoption.
There are many misconceptions about annulment. For example, whether an annulment is granted has nothing to do with how little or how long you have been married. Even the briefest of marriages may not qualify for annulment unless one of the above criteria is proven. Finally, it’s also important to note that civil annulments are entirely different from religious annulments, which must be granted by a religious institution.