Annulment Query

angeldaisy

I wondered if anyone had any experience with this?

A friend of mine has been separated for over 12 years and divorced for around 5/6yrs. the divorce was down to him, and the relationship has been fairly acrimonious, they have 2 children, he has them every other weekend. She recently received a letter from his solicitor advising that he was seeking an annulment - not sure of the exact grounds - a lot of legalese was spouted.

She believes this is because he wants to marry his new partner in church, but is worried about the implications for their children.

She is seeking legal advice, but her initial feeling is that she should contest it.

So just wondered if anyone could shed any light or offer any advice.
I didn't even realise it was possible...

ResearchWill

Sounds like he is seeking a church annulment, with a state divorce and a church annulment, can marry again in church. I am assuming its not a state annulment as they have divorce.

Tell her to take letter to her solicitor and decide what she wants to do.

Ken.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/birth_family_relationships/civil_annulment/nullity_of_marriage.html

Info on annulment's can be found at the link above.

Just to add this

If your marriage is annulled, it also means that you lose the rights that you enjoyed as a married person. Therefore:

The home that you shared with your former partner is not a family home . If your former partner is the legal owner of the house, he or she can sell or lease it without your consent.
Under the Succession Act 1965, when a married person dies, his or her spouse is legally entitled to a share of his/her estate whether or not he or she has left a will . As your marriage never happened, you do not have any succession rights if your former partner dies.

Once your marriage has been annulled, you do not have a right to apply to the court to order your former partner to pay maintenance to support you, as only spouses may apply to a court for an order for maintenance. However, if there were children born during the annulled marriage, you may apply to the court to order your former partner to pay child support.

If your marriage is annulled, it will also have consequences for your children. However, the Status of Children Act 1987 protects the legal rights of children whose parents are not married to each other. Under the Succession Act 1965, if you die and do not provide for your child adequately in your will, that child may apply to the court for a share of your estate. If you die without a will, your children have an automatic right to a share in your estate. These rights apply equally to children born outside of marriage and children born within marriage, so an annulment of your marriage will not affect your children's succession rights.

The right of a father to be a guardian of his child is affected by an annulment of marriage. Normally, when a child is born to married parents, both parents are the joint guardians of the child. When a marriage is annulled, the father will only be regarded as a joint guardian of the child if he reasonably believed that his marriage ceremony was valid, and if the child was born before the annulment order, or less than ten months after it.

It is important to be aware that a church annulment does not have any legal effect. It does not mean that you may legally remarry - although it may mean that you can remarry in the eyes of the church.

Abi

If a church wedding is the objective, he or she, or perhaps both must be quite religious. Annulments can be long drawn out, and more importantly expensive way of getting out of a marriage. I believe I have grounds for it, but my solicitor gave me a projected cost and, I'll put it this way - he will need a fair bit of bunce to swing this. Annulments are not easy to obtain.

If I were your friend, I'd seek advice nonetheless.

ResearchWill

ken wrote: »

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/birth_family_relationships/civil_annulment/nullity_of_marriage.html

Info on annulment's can be found at the link above.

Just to add this

If your marriage is annulled, it also means that you lose the rights that you enjoyed as a married person. Therefore:

The home that you shared with your former partner is not a family home . If your former partner is the legal owner of the house, he or she can sell or lease it without your consent.
Under the Succession Act 1965, when a married person dies, his or her spouse is legally entitled to a share of his/her estate whether or not he or she has left a will . As your marriage never happened, you do not have any succession rights if your former partner dies.

Once your marriage has been annulled, you do not have a right to apply to the court to order your former partner to pay maintenance to support you, as only spouses may apply to a court for an order for maintenance. However, if there were children born during the annulled marriage, you may apply to the court to order your former partner to pay child support.

If your marriage is annulled, it will also have consequences for your children. However, the Status of Children Act 1987 protects the legal rights of children whose parents are not married to each other. Under the Succession Act 1965, if you die and do not provide for your child adequately in your will, that child may apply to the court for a share of your estate. If you die without a will, your children have an automatic right to a share in your estate. These rights apply equally to children born outside of marriage and children born within marriage, so an annulment of your marriage will not affect your children's succession rights.

The right of a father to be a guardian of his child is affected by an annulment of marriage. Normally, when a child is born to married parents, both parents are the joint guardians of the child. When a marriage is annulled, the father will only be regarded as a joint guardian of the child if he reasonably believed that his marriage ceremony was valid, and if the child was born before the annulment order, or less than ten months after it.

It is important to be aware that a church annulment does not have any legal effect. It does not mean that you may legally remarry - although it may mean that you can remarry in the eyes of the church.

As the two parties have a State Divorce, I'm don't really think this is a State annulment. As the OP mentions that the ex in this instance wants a church wedding, I believe but am open to correction that the issue here is simply a church annulment. I'm not even sure it's possible to get a state annulment after getting a State Divorce.

ResearchWill

Abi wrote: »

If a church wedding is the objective, he or she, or perhaps both must be quite religious. Annulments can be long drawn out, and more importantly expensive way of getting out of a marriage. I believe I have grounds for it, but my solicitor gave me a projected cost and, I'll put it this way - he will need a fair bit of bunce to swing this. Annulments are not easy to obtain.

If I were your friend, I'd seek advice nonetheless.

Was the projected cost of the annulment in relation to State and Church, I know a number of solicitors who wold charge the same for annulment. In fact it can work out cheaper, as it's not a two pronged proceeding I.e. separation wait then divorce.

Abi

ResearchWill wrote: »

Was the projected cost of the annulment in relation to State and Church, I know a number of solicitors who wold charge the same for annulment. In fact it can work out cheaper, as it's not a two pronged proceeding I.e. separation wait then divorce.

Perhaps it's more to do with the grounds of the annulment. For a want of better words, a lot of expensive research would have to have gone into my own situation to disprove that my marriage was ever valid. Sorry I seem so vague, but the details I'd rather not put here on a public forum

I have to admit though, I wasn't a fan of this particular solicitor, and I found a better one. I got the sense that he was working against me rather than with me. This became very obvious when I spoke to my current solicitor, he has been brilliant so far. I never brought up annulment with him, but given what you have said, it would be interesting to see what his take on it is.