What is an annulment?

• You are closely related
• One of the parties was under 16 at the time of marriage
• One of the parties was already married or in a civil partnership (bigamy)

• The marriage was not consummated – you have not had sexual intercourse since the wedding. This does not apply to same sex couples as sexual intercourse is defined in English law as being between a man and a woman
• One of the parties did not fully consent to the marriage for example if you were drunk at the time of the wedding or were forced into the marriage
• One of the parties had a sexually transmitted disease when you got married
• The female party was pregnant by another man at the time of the wedding

Applying for an annulment is effectively the same as for a divorce; you will need to fill in the appropriate “Nullity Petition” forms and send these off to the court with the applicable fee (see divorce costs).

Once the other party has responded to the nullity petition then you can apply for the conditional order and 6 weeks later the final order.

It is possible to do all this yourself, however as there are complexities to the whole process we would recommend seeking independent legal advice to help guide you through the whole journey, especially if children or complex financial issues may exist.

This depends on the circumstances. If you did not consent to the marriage or were unable to, for example, because you were drunk, then you may be able to apply for an annulment. If however, you were fully aware of what you were doing, just because this was a Vegas wedding does not mean it is not valid.

Provided the officials present were qualified and all paperwork was complete, the marriage would be recognised in the UK. You may need to apply for a divorce. Get in touch to discuss jurisdiction issues with us.

Usually in this instance you are able to apply to have the marriage annulled because the marriage was never legally valid. You will need to show evidence of the pre-existing marriage to the court and apply using the Nullity Petition.