Divorce? Annulment? What’s the Difference?

Whereas divorce is the procedure for ending a valid marriage, an annulment ends a marriage that is legally invalid. In Pennsylvania, marriages must meet certain requirements to be legal.

For example, neither spouse may already be married to another person at the time of marriage, spouses cannot be closely related to one another, and each spouse must have the mental ability to consent to marry. When such requirements are not satisfied, the resulting marriage may eventually be subject to an annulment.

Pennsylvania law divides invalid marriages into two categories: void marriages, and voidable marriages. Void marriages are invalid from the start, and the law treats them as if they never existed at all. By contrast, the law recognizes voidable marriages as valid until either spouse seeks and receives an annulment.

Read More: Canon-McMillian