The Legal Issues 115
to divorce. Finally, remember that statistically speaking, the likeli-
hood of trial separations ultimately working out in such a way as
to “save the marriage” is relatively small.
Annulment
Bigamy: the only crime on the books where two rites make a wrong.
—Bob Hope
People have many of the same misconceptions regarding annul-
ments as they do about separations. Many folks tend to think
annulments are somehow tied in with the fact that the marriage
has only been of a limited duration. People calling my office for
annulments seem to think that there ought to be some type of an
initial “get out of jail free” grace period, i.e., that if it has been only
a three- or four-month marriage, it can’t really be all that serious,
thus one should be entitled to simply back out.
The legal reality, however, is that once you’re married—you’re
married. Annulments have absolutely nothing to do with the
length of time that the marriage lasted. Instead, there are a lim-
ited number of very rare conditions that one would have to prove
in order to qualify for an annulment rather than a divorce.
Fraud is one viable ground for obtaining an annulment. This
would have to include an original intent by one party to deceive
the other on an issue that was integral to the basic foundation
of the marriage itself. Other statutory grounds that might qualify
for an annulment are if either party had a “loathsome disease”
that they failed to disclose, or if one spouse was underage, or per-
haps a bigamy or incest situation. In these cases, you may be able
to get the marriage annulled, rather than having to go through
a divorce.
As you can imagine, however, the situations listed above are rel-
atively rare. Courts are very strict about granting annulments, and
they are difficult to obtain. An annulment also generally costs more
to process than does a simple divorce. Remember, annulments
have nothing to do with the fact that you just realized early on in
the marriage that it was not going to work out. It is also crucial to