ABA Family Legal Guide

Family Law

Marriage

Invalid Marriages

What rules apply if a marriage turns out to be invalid?

A marriage may be invalid because it is between close relatives, underage persons, or people incapable of entering into the marriage contract because of mental incompetence, or if a prior marriage exists. Sometimes people discover that their marriage is invalid only when filing for divorce.

In some states, the putative spouse doctrine offers some protection to the innocent party if the parties went through a ceremonial marriage. A putative (meaning "supposed") spouse may be entitled to the same benefits and rights as a legal spouse for as long as she or he reasonably believed the marriage to be valid. In states that do not accept the putative spouse doctrine, people who mistakenly believe they are married have the same status as unmarried couples who have lived together.

After a long union that both parties honestly believed was a valid marriage, a court may refuse to declare the marriage invalid and require a divorce to end the marriage.