annulment
Is a legal procedure that declares a marriage is null from its inception. Unlike divorce, the effect of declaring a marriage void is retroactive, meaning that the marriage was void at the time it was entered into. An annulment is only granted with a showing of grounds, such as incest or insanity.
Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary
A court procedure that dissolves a marriage and treats it as if it never happened. The most common reason for a person to want an annulment instead of a divorce is for religious purposes. Annulments are rare since the advent of no-fault divorce but may be obtained in most states for one of the following reasons: misrepresentation, concealment (for example, of an addiction or criminal record), misunderstanding, and refusal to consummate the marriage.
Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.
August 19, 2010, 5:11 pm
