Annulment
In some limited circumstances the court can order a marriage annulled. Annulment means the marriage never existed. This is different from a divorce, which ends a marriage. Vermont's laws on annulment are found at 15 VSA § 511-520.
Even if a marriage is annulled, the court can still decide on issues such as parental rights and responsibilities (custody), parent-child contact (visitation), child support, spousal maintenance, and property division. Children of annulled marriages have the same rights as children of valid marriages. They have the right to be supported by both parents and can inherit from both parents.
Related Topics
- Civil Union Dissolution
When one or both parties who entered into a civil union in Vermont ask the court to legally end that relationship and make orders about child support, parental rights and responsibilities (custody), parent–child contact (parenting time), and the division of property and debts.
When one or both parties as the court to legally end their marriage and make orders about child support, parental rights and responsibilities (custody), parent–child contact (parenting time), and the division of property and debts.
- Legal Separation
When one or both parties who are married ask the court to make orders about child support, parental rights and responsibilities (custody), parent–child contact (parenting time), and the division of property and debts — but they do not want to end the marriage.
- Parentage
When one or both parents who are not married to each other ask the court to make orders about child support, parental rights and responsibilities (custody), parent–child contact (parenting time), and legal parentage (paternity). Someone could also start a parentage case to establish who the legal parent of a child is, whether or not they are married to the other parent.
Forms
Find forms at the bottom of this web page. Read about forms generally on the About Court Forms web page.
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Call or email the Access and Resource Center at 802-879-1185 or selfhelp@vtcourts.gov.
These are the legal grounds (reasons) to have a marriage annulled in Vermont:
- Bigamy: One spouse is currently married to someone else.
- Consanguinity or Affinity: The spouses are too closely related to be married. A person may not marry their parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, sibling, sibling’s child, or parent’s sibling.
- Force: One spouse was coerced or threatened into getting married.
- Fraud: One spouse lied or hid information to convince the other spouse to marry.
- Mental incapability: One spouse did not have the mental capability to enter into the marriage. Examples of mental incapacity include severe psychiatric, cognitive, or other severe mental disability.
- Physical incapacity: One spouse is physically incapable of consummating the marriage.
- Under age: One spouse was under age 16 at the time of marriage.
There may be other grounds, and additional conditions. Talk to an attorney if you have questions about annulment. See the Finding Legal Help web page for information about the ways to get the help of an attorney.
The person starts the annulment case by filing papers with the court is called the plaintiff.
The person the case is filed against is called is the defendant.
Whether you are the plaintiff or the defendant does not affect the outcome of your case.
Residency requirement
To file an annulment case in Vermont, you or the other party (or both) must have lived in Vermont for the past six months.
Fill out and file the required forms
- The forms needed to start an annulment case are in the Forms section at the bottom of this web page. The person signing the complaint must be 16 or older and be of sound mind. If the plaintiff is not 16 or older or is not of sound mind a parent or guardian may sign the complaint on behalf of the plaintiff.
- File your completed forms with the Family Division of the Superior Court. See the Filing Procedures web page for more information about filing options.
- The judge will review the documents to determine whether you meet the standard for an annulment.
- If you meet the standard, you must then have the other party served with the documents. See the Serving Papers in Family Division Cases web page for more information.
- If you do not meet the standard for an annulment, your case will be closed. Other options to consider include divorce or legal separation, or civil union dissolution, depending on your situation.
After the judge reviews your filing and the papers have been served on the other party, the process is similar to that for a divorce case or parentage case.
If you have minor children with the other party
Issues of parental rights and responsibilities, child support, and property division can also be addressed by the court in an annulment case. You and your partner may be required to participate in a self-represented litigant education program, a parenting course, or both. A case manager conference may also be scheduled. The court may also require that you attend mediation to try to work through disagreements.
The court will likely require a hearing with evidence given as to the grounds for annulment, even if you both agree on all of the issues. This is because the law requires that the judge make findings based on evidence for the grounds for an annulment, in addition to the parties’ “say so” [15 V.S.A. § 518].