Annulment
A court order that declares a marriage was never legally valid, as if it never happened.
An annulment is a court ruling that a marriage was never legally valid. Unlike a divorce (dissolution), which ends a valid marriage, an annulment treats the marriage as though it never existed. In Minnesota, an annulment is only available in specific circumstances, such as when one spouse was underage, one spouse was already married, or the marriage was based on fraud or force.
Minnesota law distinguishes between void marriages (which are invalid from the start, such as bigamous marriages) and voidable marriages (which can be annulled by a court, such as marriages involving fraud). Even if a marriage is annulled, the court can still address issues like property division, spousal maintenance, and child custody.
Why it matters: An annulment has different legal consequences than a divorce. Some people seek annulments for religious reasons or because they believe their spouse deceived them into the marriage. However, annulments are harder to obtain than dissolutions because you must prove specific legal grounds.
Example: A person discovers shortly after their wedding that their spouse was already married to someone else. They file for an annulment, and the court declares the marriage void because it was bigamous.
Family court, situations involving fraud, bigamy, or underage marriage