Invalid Marriages

Occasionally, people who live as a married couple learn that their marriage is not legal. For example, one supposed spouse may have kept a prior marriage secret, or both may have thought incorrectly that an earlier marriage had ended in divorce or the death of a spouse. In addition, 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.

If a marriage was improper for reasons such as these, a court may grant an annulment instead of a divorce. An annulment is a legal declaration that a valid marriage never existed. An annulment is different from a divorce in that a divorce is a legal declaration that a valid marriage is over. (Divorces will be discussed more in chapter 9.)

When a court grants an annulment, the parties often are free to go their separate ways without any further legal obligations to each other. Many states, however, apply additional principles of law to protect a person who thought he or she was in a valid marriage, but, in fact, was not. An individual who believed that he or she was in a valid marriage, but was not, is referred to as the putative spouse, and the rule of law that gives that person protection is sometimes referred to as the putative-spouse doctrine. (In some states, protection also may be given without labeling the remedy the “putative spouse doctrine.”)

Under the putative spouse doctrine, a putative spouse may be entitled to the same benefits and rights of a legal spouse for as long as she or he reasonably believed the marriage to be valid. From time to time, people discover that their marriage is invalid only when filing for divorce. After a long union that both parties believed to be valid, a court may refuse to declare the marriage invalid. Instead, it may require a divorce to end the marriage. In that event, the usual rules of property distribution and support apply, and an economically dependent spouse may be able to obtain more property and support than if the marriage had been annulled. (Later chapters cover the rules of property distribution and alimony.)

If one party to the marriage thought the marriage was valid, but the other party knew the marriage was not valid, an additional principle may apply: estoppel. Estoppel means that a person’s conduct may prevent that person from doing something he or she would otherwise be entitled to do. In this case, if one party to a marriage tricked the other into thinking the marriage was valid, a court might not allow the deceiver to declare the marriage invalid. Thus, the deceiving partner would not be able to profit from division of property or setting of support as a result of the deception.

If the party who was deceived learned of the deception and then promptly sought to get out of the marriage on the basis of annulment instead of divorce, the court probably would allow the annulment. On the other hand, if the party who was deceived learned of the deception and chose to continue in the marriage for a long period of time before seeking to end the marriage, the doctrine of laches (long delay) may prevent even the “innocent” party from seeking to declare the marriage invalid. In that case, the parties may be required to follow the rules of divorce rather than annulment.