Annulment or Nullity is a legal process for declaration of marriage null and void. Annulling a marriage deletes all things from the records, as if it never took place before, it showcases that the marriage never existed. It in its totality, nullifies the marriage, returning the parties to their status before marriage.

Under Hindu laws, a marriage becomes null and void if the man or the woman already has a husband or wife at the time of their marriage (bigamy), if they fall under the prohibited degree of relationship (blood relations) or if the marriage is between cousins or sapindas (until the customs allow such a union), if the marriage is not consummated due to impotency, if at the time of marriage either one of them were of unsound mind or were forced to give consent, if they were under-aged or if the woman was pregnant by another man at the time of her marriage.

Under Mohammedan laws, interreligious marriages, marriages between close blood relations, marriage to a woman during her period of iddat, marriage with a person who has renounced the Islamic faith, is considered to be a null and void marriage

Similarly in Christian marriages also, a marriage where the spouse was impotent during the marriage, or if the marriage is with a person falling under prohibited degree, if the person was a lunatic or of an unsound mind at the time of marriage, or if either of the party has another living spouse, then the marriage is said to be null and void.

While, under Parsi laws, if the marriage cannot be consummated due to natural causes then the said marriage can be declared to be null and void.

Under all of these personal laws or state laws, the party who is affected by the said marriage can move to court and can file for the annulment of their marriage. The said party can, after giving either of the reasons as mentioned above, or any other reason that can allow annulment, seek for annulment of the marriage, and if the court thinks that the reason is sufficient, the marriage is declared annulled. While a wife cannot get alimony or maintenance after the marriage is declared void, the child, if any, born from their union can still claim maintenance from the parents.

We at AnaghaLegal clearly make the parties understand the provisos and the difference between Annulment and divorce. The clear distinction between annulment and divorce is that the annulment refers to a marriage that never existed at all whereas the divorce dissolves the marriage.

Divorce aims to break the marital bond but annulment questions the validity of the marriage.

After the annulment of marriage, there are no duties or obligations which are aroused but after the divorce, a situation to pay alimony and maintenance may arise as it depends on the case.

After an annulment, the status of the parties is considered single, whereas after divorce it is referred to as divorcees.