What is the difference between marriage annulment and divorce?
What is the marriage annulment?
What are the consequences of the marriage annulment?
In which cases can it be requested?
The annulment of marriage and divorce are two different procedures that lead to the same consequence: the dissolution of marriage.
What is the marriage annulment?
A marriage that does not respect the legal conditions of marriage is invalid. The marriage can be challenged and cancelled.
The annulment of the marriage carries special consequences: the marriage is deemed never to have taken place, the partners finding themselves in the same situation as if they had never been married.
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In order to be accepted, the marriage annulment application must be based on valid reasons: no longer wanting to live with her husband one month after the marriage is not a valid reason.
In this example, the procedure should be that of divorce.
The conditions of validity of a marriage depend closely on the conditions under which the marriage took place.
The request for cancellation can only come from one or the other of the spouses, or both spouses jointly.
The cancellation request may however in some cases come from a person outside the couple but interested (friend, child, family).
Since 2006, the public prosecutor can also request the annulment of a marriage for certain serious cases (forced marriage for example).
In all cases, the marriage annulment application is examined by the civil judge of the High Court (and not by the family judge!).
It is the civil judge who, if necessary, pronounces the nullity of the marriage and cancels it.
The person requesting the annulment of the marriage must provide the evidence justifying the cancellation.
What are the consequences of the marriage annulment?
In cases where only spouses can apply for cancellation (see list below), the time limit for requesting the annulment of marriage is 5 years.
In other cases, the deadline is 30 years (from the date of the marriage celebration).
If the judge decides to cancel the marriage, it is possible to appeal this decision within a month to the Court of Appeal (one month from the notification of cancellation).
Lastly, it is possible to appeal on points of law to set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal within two months of notification of the decision by the Court of Appeal.
A cancelled marriage is, unlike the divorce that stops the marriage, considered never to have existed. The two "married" are then deemed to have lived in concubinage.
Important: the effects of the annulment of a marriage are retroactive, again unlike divorce whose effects only concern the future.
Donations and other matrimonial benefits are also returned between the spouses. On the other hand, the effects of the cancellation do not concern children.
Each parent retains the exercise of parental authority. The judge may determine the award and amount of support.
In which cases can it be requested?
Marriage can only be cancelled in certain cases provided for by French law.
Here are the cases provided for by law:
One of the couple was a minor at the time of the marriage
One of the spouses was mentally ill at the time of the marriage
One of the spouses was already married at the time of the marriage. As a reminder, polygamy is prohibited in France. You can only be married with one person at a time
The spouses are related. As a reminder, the law prohibits incest
One of the spouses was forced to marry. Forced marriage is prohibited by law
One of the married couple married under threat
One of the spouses was not present at his own wedding
The registrar who celebrated the marriage did not have the legal power to do so (incompetence of the registrar)
One of the spouses lied to his spouse on a point that is essential to the future of the couple or himself (we are talking about consent in error)
Finally, since it is also a question of recalling the laws applicable to marriage, white marriage is prohibited in France.
A marriage is white when it is concluded not to found a home but to benefit from the benefits conferred by law to married couples.
In the following cases: marriage by mistake, marriage of a minor or marriage under threat, only one of the spouses may request the annulment of the marriage.
In other cases, anyone interested in the marriage may take action to request the annulment of the marriage.