Legal Definitions - nullity suit

A nullity suit is a legal action brought before a court to have a marriage declared legally invalid from its very beginning. Unlike a divorce, which ends a valid marriage, a nullity suit asserts that the marriage was never legally valid in the first place. This can be because the marriage was either:

• Void: Meaning it had no legal effect whatsoever from the moment it occurred, often due to a fundamental legal prohibition (e.g., bigamy or incest).
• Voidable: Meaning it was valid until a court declares it invalid, typically due to a defect in consent or capacity at the time of the marriage (e.g., fraud, duress, lack of mental capacity, or one party being underage without proper consent).

If a nullity suit is successful, the court issues a judgment of nullity (sometimes called an annulment), which legally establishes that no valid marriage ever existed between the parties.

Here are some examples of situations where a nullity suit might apply:

• Example 1: Prior Undissolved Marriage (Bigamy)

  A woman marries a man, believing him to be single. Several years later, she discovers that he was still legally married to his first wife at the time of their wedding, and that first marriage was never legally dissolved. In this scenario, the woman could file a nullity suit. Because bigamy makes a subsequent marriage automatically void, the court would declare that her marriage to the man never legally existed, as it was invalid from the start.

• Example 2: Lack of Mental Capacity

  A man marries a woman who, unbeknownst to him, was suffering from a severe cognitive impairment at the time of the wedding, rendering her unable to understand the nature and obligations of the marriage contract. After the wedding, her condition becomes apparent. The man could file a nullity suit. If the court determines that the woman lacked the mental capacity to consent to the marriage, it could declare the marriage voidable, effectively nullifying it as if it never legally occurred due to this fundamental defect in consent.

• Example 3: Marriage Under Duress or Fraud

  A young adult is pressured into marrying someone by their family under significant threats of violence or social ostracization. Alternatively, one party marries another who intentionally misrepresented a fundamental aspect of their identity or circumstances (e.g., their gender, or a severe, undisclosed medical condition that fundamentally impacts the marital relationship) with the intent to deceive. In either case, the coerced or defrauded party could file a nullity suit. If the court finds that the marriage was entered into under duress or significant fraud, it could declare the marriage voidable, thereby invalidating it from its inception.