When is annulment an option?

Annulment allows spouses to end their marriage without requiring a divorce. An annulment order is a declaration that the marriage is void and establishes that the marriage never existed. It makes it as if the spouses were never legally married.

It is difficult to establish grounds for annulment in Ontario. The cases in which an annulment may be grated are: a lack of mental capacity to enter into marriage; non-consummation of the marriage; a legal defect in the marriage ceremony; marriage to someone who is too close a relative; marriage under the age of 18 without parental consent.

If you are able to prove the facts to have an annulment grated, your rights to support and for property division are often the same as if you were separating or divorcing.