Many people fail to distinguish between divorce and annulment of marriage.
Thus, annulment proceedings are brought to challenge the validity of a marriage as opposed to divorce proceedings which presume a valid marriage that is now subject to dissolution.
Therefore, in annulment proceedings, once a court gives an order annulling the marriage, the court simply says that the marriage did not exist in the first place.
Section 73 of the Marriage Act sets out the following grounds for annulment of marriages:
(a) Where the marriage has not been consummated since celebration.
(b) Where at the time of the marriage without their knowledge, either party was in a prohibited relationship
(c) In the case of monogamous marriages, one of the parties was married to another person.
(d) The Petitioner’s consent was not freely given
(e) A party to the marriage was absent at the time of celebration of the marriage.
(f) At the time of the marriage and without the knowledge of the husband, the wife was pregnant, and that the husband is not responsible for the pregnancy.
(g) At the time of marriage, without the knowledge of the petitioner, the other party suffered from incurable bouts of insanity.
A petition for annulment of marriage can only be filed within 1 year of marriage.
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