"Annulment or Divorce?"

When trying to come to a conclusion about ending a marriage, some people consider an annulment rather than a divorce. Some also ask themselves, what is an annulment? An annulment is a decree that a marriage was invalid from its onset. According to ExpertLaw, an annulment is a legal decress that effectively undoes the marriage, suggesting that the marriage never existed.

ExpertLaw states that, "Annulments are typically available under these circumstances: You and your spouse are close biological relatives and should have qualified for marriage under the law; One of the spouses didn't have the mental capacity to enter into a marriage contract; One of the spouses was below the legal age to consent marriage; You or your spouse entered this marriage as a result of stress or force; You or your spouse were fraudulently induced into entering the marriage; Your spouse was married to another living person at the time of the marriage."

The duration of a marriage does not affect whether or not a annulment is an option or not. It is available for whenever that decision needs to be made. Steve Escalera once said, "Unlike a divorce judgement, which may specify a future date on which the marital status ends, a judgment of nullity frees the parties to remarry immediately." On a more personal level, I am happy my parents didn't make the decision for an annulment. I feel as if that means they were never really married; that the 27 years they spent together meant nothing.

For the most part, annulments take place only after a few months or weeks, so there are usually no assets or debts to divide, or child custody, visitation and child support are a concern. Children of an annulled marriage are not considered illegitimate. Some prefer an annulment because it may be easier to remarry in their church if they go through an annulment rather than a divorce. There are two types of annulments: religious and civic annulments. According to FindLaw, "A religious annulment can be obtained after a civil divorce so that one or both can remarry, within the church or anywhere else. A civic annulement has to require at least one of these following reasons: misrepresentation or fraud, concealment, refusal or inability to consummate the marriage, and misunderstanding." These "rules"vary from state to state. In making these decisions, each individual has to be happy, whether or not it be the right decision and taking everyone's feelings into consideration.

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