Marriage Annulment in Ireland
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Civil Annulment (Nullity) vs Church Annulment
It is important to understand the distinction between an annulment of marriage in the legal sense of the term and a marriage annulment granted by the church. A Catholic church annulment allows the persons involved to get remarried from a church perspective but not from a legal one.
From a legal standpoint, a legal decree of a civil annulment declares that the marriage never existed in the legal sense even though the couple have gone though a ceremony of marriage.
Under what circumstances can a civil annulment application be made?
Below are some examples of circumstances where the court may grant a decree of a civil annulment. At least one party must apply for the marriage to be voided and the courts decide that if the application should succeed or not:
- Where consent to marriage was granted by one party whilst under duress
- Where there was an element of fraud on behalf of a partner
- Where one party was already married.
- Where one or both parties did not satisfy the legal age requirement of 18 years and did not have legal permission to get married under this minimum age requirement.
- Where, at the time of the marriage one party is unaware of a personality disorder or mental illness diagnosed by a mental health professional in the other party.
- In situations where sufficient notice was not given to the Registrar of Marriages
- Where one party of the couple is not able to perform sexual intercourse with the other.
It is important to note that the legal rights of an individual as a married person, including the entitlement to a spouse’s estate in the event of their death, are forfeited on foot of the granting of a legal annulment.
The information provided witin the content above and throughout Family Law Solicitors Dublin is intended as a guide to provide general information on civic annulment matters. We do try to ensure that the all information is as current and accurate as possible, but we cannot offer any guarantee of this. Family Law Solicitors Dublin is NOT a solicitor’s office in itself nor do we purport to offer any legal services directly ourselves. What we do is match you with a competent family law solicitor who is legally qualified to offer you the legal assistance required.