Annulment, also known as the nullity of a marriage, is the legal procedure that invalidates or cancels a marriage, declaring it legally null and void. It would be as if the marriage never existed or occurred in the first place. After an annulment, the individuals involved can identify themselves as “single” instead of “divorced”.
Both a marriage annulment and divorce seek to end a marriage. The difference between the two is that the former states that the union never existed or was invalid, whereas the latter recognises the union happened but had irretrievably broken down. Parties need to be married for at least 3 years before they can file for divorce whereas such a condition does not exist for an annulment. In fact, depending on which fact you are relying on to annul the marriage, the application must be made within the first 3 years of marriage.
A marriage is void when it is considered invalid or non-existent from the very beginning of the marriage. It is as if no marriage never occurred. To prove a void marriage, any of the following grounds should be presented with sufficient evidence:
Compared to a void marriage, a voidable marriage can be harder to prove. A voidable marriage recognises that a couple was legally married but due to certain circumstances, the union fulfils the conditions for a marriage annulment. Such circumstances are as follows:
The annulment of marriage in Singapore has a similar process to divorce. First, the complainant involved should submit and prove his or her claims that the marriage is either void or voidable. If the annulment is uncontested, an Interim Judgment will be granted, after which the Final Judgment of Nullity may be issued 3 months thereafter. If the annulment is contested, the case proceeds for a hearing where the evidence will be presented and both parties will be subject to cross-examination to determine whether the party applying for annulment has proven one of the conditions of a void or voidable marriage.
As with a divorce, the second part of an annulment requires resolving ancillary matters regarding the division of property and maintenance. If parties are unable to agree, it will proceed for an Ancillary Matters hearing. Once all issues have been settled, the Court will then grant a Final Judgment of Nullity where the marriage is finally considered null and void.
The applicant must also file a Writ for Nullity together with other documents such as:
The length of a Singapore annulment greatly depends on the complexity of the issue or if the other party contests the nullity. Generally, if all the ancillary matters can be resolved early on, the Final Judgment for Nullity will be granted 3 months after an Interim Judgement is issued. With these factors and consideration at play, an uncontested annulment may take between 4 to 5 months.
After a successful application, the court will grant a Final Judgement of Nullity to the applicant, thereby rendering the marriage null and void. However, children born during the marriage are considered legitimate despite the annulment.