Annulment of a Marriage in New Jersey

A marriage in New Jersey may be annulled in certain circumstances.  Unlike divorce, with an annulment, the marriage is treated as not existing in the first place.  Because it erases the marriage, there are limited grounds upon which a court may grant an annulment.  Grounds for an annulment fall into two categories, namely, void and voidable marriages.  A marriage would be void if one of the parties is already married when they get married.  Bigamy is not allowed in New Jersey (or any other state).  A voidable marriage is a marriage in which one of the parties can, under certain circumstances, invalidate the marriage.  An example of this would be if one of the parties defrauded the other party, or one of the parties was under the age of consent.  With voidable marriages, one of the spouses must move before the court to declare the marriage void and prove their case for an annulment.  It should be noted that a civil annulment has absolutely nothing to do with a religious annulment.  Even if you are granted an annulment by a court, your religion may still recognize the marriage as valid.  Therefore, if you wish to marry in the church in the future, you will also need to obtain a religious annulment.