ANNULLED AND VOID 

Published on 24 April, 2025 | Sarah Hewitt

Sadly, it is a fact that many relationships do not last the course.

According to figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 41 per cent of marriages have ended in divorce before those involved are able to celebrate their silver wedding anniversaries (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/divorce/bulletins/divorcesinenglandandwales/2022).

The very same data appears to show that there is indeed a ‘seven-year itch’: more spouses go their separate ways after spending that long together than any other period of time.

However, there are circumstances in which husbands and wives decide to part relatively soon after they marry.

The duration of a marriage is one of the key criteria in determining what they might do.

In England and Wales, divorce is only possible at least one year after a marriage (https://www.gov.uk/divorce).

If a couple wishes to separate even sooner than that, they can consider having their marriage annulled instead.

Yet the criteria for annulment are very limited and quite specific, requiring applicants to demonstrate that their marriages were either void or voidable (https://www.gov.uk/how-to-annul-marriage).

A marriage is void if the people involved were closely related to each other or if one of the participants was under 18 at the time.

Voidable marriages are those which have not been consummated or where one of the spouses did not consent, perhaps as a result of coercion or deceit.

Additionally, a marriage is regarded as voidable if the bride was pregnant, if one or either participant had a sexually transmitted disease (STD), or if one of the individuals was in the process of transitioning to a different gender.

Someone considering those details might reasonably construe that few if any annulments ever take place.

That isn’t exactly the case.

Numbers compiled by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) illustrate that whilst annulment is not exactly common, it’s not unusual either (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2024/family-court-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2024).

In 2024, 193 final orders were issued on the grounds of annulment – an increase of 42 per cent on the equivalent figure only three years before.

It is something which I have found myself reflecting on recently, having been instructed by a client following an application for annulment due to religious reasons.

Furthermore, headlines were generated earlier this year by the ruling in an Australian case in which a woman successfully applied to annul her marriage (https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/10/australia/court-annuls-marriage-instagram-stunt-australia-intl-scli/index.html).

She told a court in Melbourne she had been convinced by her partner that the ceremony was simply a “prank”, intended to enhance his social media following.

The woman maintained that she only discovered the truth when he used his married status to apply for permanent residence in the country.

Glancing over the MoJ material, it is interesting to note that a rise in the number of applications for annulment in England and Wales coincides with the anticipation and then introduction of ‘no-fault’ divorce in 2022.

Under the terms of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, couples must wait for 20 weeks after applying for divorce before beginning the process of obtaining the conditional order – the first of two orders formally ending a marriage (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2020/11/contents).

Where candidates for annulment meet the requisite criteria, the process can be much quicker, with conditional orders possibly being pronounced within a couple of weeks of an application being submitted, subject to the court deciding whether any further checks need to made.

As with divorce, final orders cannot be applied for less than six weeks after a conditional order has been obtained but that still means annulment possibly being completed (a financial remedy order also needs to be agreed) within a couple of months of starting.

By comparison, the latest MoJ figures show that it takes 57 weeks on average between an application for divorce and a final order being granted.

When you factor in the minimum 12-month duration of a marriage even before a divorce can be applied for, it means that couples who may not want to remain together have to wait at least two years until they can begin their newly single lives.

The breakdown of a marriage is always an unfortunate event. The realisation that a relationship cannot continue sometimes occurs quickly and, at others, only after many years.

For those individuals who still regard divorce as carrying a degree of social or religious stigma, annulment represents an alternative – albeit one which is quite particular in scope.