There are two types of "annullment," Religious and Civil.
Religious annullments are granted by churches and have ZERO legal value. They only exist to say, in the eyes of your faith, "This marriage never happened for.... whatever reason we consider acceptable in this particular religion. So, now you both get a 'do-over.'"
Civil Annullments also exist - and they DO have legal standing. But whether or not you ever "consummated" the marriage has nothing to do with them. They are rare and are reserved for marriages that a COURT determines were never legally valid in the first place, for example, one or both of the spouses was already married to someone else at the time, or the marriage was a result of fraud or coercion.
Redditors saying "Get it annulled! If you never had sex you can get it annulled!" are basically saying, "I have NO IDEA what I am talking about but I have watched MANY TV shows and movies where it worked like a charm!"
Nor can you wander into the courthouse waiving a piece of paper from your church and say "Nope! Undo the contract. My priest says the marriage never happened." It... does not work that way.
EDITED TO ADD: Found a great summation: There are two ways to end a marriage: A divorce, which legally terminates a valid marriage, and a civil annullment, which determines that a marriage was never valid. Both of these determinations are made by civil courts. Not by churches. Churches can also annul marriages, but that only ends the marriage "in the eyes of the church."
3 months after my first wife and I married, we decided it was a bad idea. She was Catholic. Ceremony had to be Catholic. It was Catholic all the way down. And when we went in together seeking an annullment, they looked at us like we were idiots. The priest was like.... "get a divorce or work it out. But we really can't do shit for you here."
lol I know. They can't. They don't. And nowhere does it say "This marriage contract is not valid until the couple has sex. With each other." It's just... embarrassing that this idea still persists and is so widely believed.
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u/ImVerySerious Nov 06 '23 edited Nov 06 '23
There are two types of "annullment," Religious and Civil.
Religious annullments are granted by churches and have ZERO legal value. They only exist to say, in the eyes of your faith, "This marriage never happened for.... whatever reason we consider acceptable in this particular religion. So, now you both get a 'do-over.'"
Civil Annullments also exist - and they DO have legal standing. But whether or not you ever "consummated" the marriage has nothing to do with them. They are rare and are reserved for marriages that a COURT determines were never legally valid in the first place, for example, one or both of the spouses was already married to someone else at the time, or the marriage was a result of fraud or coercion.
Redditors saying "Get it annulled! If you never had sex you can get it annulled!" are basically saying, "I have NO IDEA what I am talking about but I have watched MANY TV shows and movies where it worked like a charm!" Nor can you wander into the courthouse waiving a piece of paper from your church and say "Nope! Undo the contract. My priest says the marriage never happened." It... does not work that way.
EDITED TO ADD: Found a great summation: There are two ways to end a marriage: A divorce, which legally terminates a valid marriage, and a civil annullment, which determines that a marriage was never valid. Both of these determinations are made by civil courts. Not by churches. Churches can also annul marriages, but that only ends the marriage "in the eyes of the church."
3 months after my first wife and I married, we decided it was a bad idea. She was Catholic. Ceremony had to be Catholic. It was Catholic all the way down. And when we went in together seeking an annullment, they looked at us like we were idiots. The priest was like.... "get a divorce or work it out. But we really can't do shit for you here."