When marriage feels like a mistake, it can make one or both spouses wish they had never signed their marriage license. Whether you have religious reasons, regrets, or simply questions over the legal effectiveness of your marriage, you may want to know if you can get an annulment in Michigan. While rare, if you fit into certain categories, the answer may be yes.
When Can You Get an Annulment in Michigan?
A legal annulment is an order from the Michigan Family Court that ends a marriage, similar to a divorce. However, a divorce dissolves the bonds of matrimony. An annulment says that your marriage was not valid from the start. You can get an annulment in Michigan if there was some legal problem with your marriage when it was entered. In legal terms, your marriage had to either be “void” or “voidable.”
Is Your Marriage Void or Voidable?
If a marriage is void, that means that the marital contract could never have been entered in the first place.
A void marriage can be annulled at any time, even as part of one spouse's estate administration after his or her death.
If your marriage is voidable it means that you and your spouse have the legal ability to waive the legal problem that existed at the time of the marriage. A voidable marriage remains effective until one of the spouses files a complaint to get an annulment in the Michigan courts. That means it can only be terminated during both spouses' lifetimes.
So how can you tell if your marriage is void or voidable?
Close Relatives
In Michigan, you cannot legally marry someone you are too closely related to either by blood (called consanguinity) or marriage (called affinity). The Michigan statute doesn't count the degrees of relationship, instead it lists the relations between whom a marriage is prohibited:
- Parents (including stepparents)
- Siblings
- Grandparents and grandchildren
- Aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews
- First cousins
A marriage between close relatives, including first cousins, is void at inception, so you can get an annulment to end that marriage at any time.
Bigamy
Michigan does not allow bigamy or polygamous marriages. If either spouse is already married to a living spouse at the time the marriage license is signed, that second marriage is void. This is possibly the most common reason people get an annulment in Michigan. If your spouse's divorce from his or her first marriage was not complete before the second marriage occurs, it can create an annulment situation since both parties to a divorce are still legally married until the Judgment of Divorce is entered.
Incapacity to Enter the Marriage Contract
If either spouse is not mentally competent to enter a contract at the time of the marriage, it is voidable and can be annulled at any time. Demonstrating mental incapacity is a relatively high burden. It means more than a mental health diagnosis or disability. In most cases, to prove the marriage was void, you will need a doctor to testify to the spouse's lack of mental capacity. Timing is also important. If a spouse became mentally incapacitated after the marriage began – possibly due to injury or a degenerative disease – the marriage will not be void and you will need to file for divorce instead.
Age of Consent to Marry
In Michigan, the age of legal consent is 16 years old. If you were married before you or your spouse turned 16, separated while that person was still a minor, and did not voluntarily live together again afterwards, that marriage is voidable. Proving a marriage is void based on the age of the participants requires proof that you and your spouse physically separated. This makes it harder to prove than other kinds of annulment cases.
“Shotgun” Weddings
If you entered your marriage based on fraud or duress, that marriage is voidable. You will need to prove that you would not have entered the marriage except for the statements or actions your spouse took to fool or compel you into doing so. These so-called “shotgun” weddings require fraud related to the essence of the marriage relationship itself, such as:
- Parentage of a child conceived outside of the marriage
- Known infertility
- Refusal to have children
- Past criminal record.
- Marriage completed under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Marriage obtained for immigration purposes only
However, concealing assets, debts, past marriages, or sexual history, age, education, or class is generally not enough. Just like with marriage to a minor, voluntarily living together afterward may negate the ability to get an annulment.
Legal Effects of Religious Annulments
Some religions have practices that require a religious annulment before a follower can be married again in the church, temple, or synagogue. Even if you have obtained a religious annulment, you are still considered legally married until a Judgment of Annulment or Judgment of Divorce is entered by a Michigan family court judge. Similarly, a civil annulment may not be necessary or sufficient to satisfy your religious tenets. If you believe your faith requires a religious annulment, you should consult your religious leader so you understand the process.
Get Help Obtaining an Annulment from a Michigan Family Lawyer
At Bebout, Potere, Cox & Bennion, P.C., we care about you and your family. We help individuals and families in Rochester Hills, Rochester, Troy, Lake Orion, Oxford, Oakland County, Macomb County and throughout Southeast Michigan. We know when and how you can get an annulment in Michigan and can help you through the process. Call us at 248-651-4114 or contact us here to speak to an attorney.
