Is a Marriage Annulment Right for You?

Are you at your wits end and cannot decide on getting a marriage annulment or just filing for divorce? Here’s what you need to know, if you go with an annulment. Are you no longer in love with the person you thought you would spend the rest of your life with? Have you been looking for ways out of the relationship and to end it for once and for all?

Cannot decide between either getting a divorce or going for an annulment?

Today we are going to cover what an annulment is in the state of Nevada and the pros and cons of each choice you have.

Annulment vs Divorce

Right now, we are going to start off with talking about annulment vs divorce. Because not many people know how they are similar and how they are drastically different.

First off, divorce and annulment will be done through the courts of Nevada. These options will both dissolve and in simpler terms, end a marriage.

However, an annulment is going to differ from a divorce being that an annulment will act like the marriage never even happened in the first place.

While divorce will still end your marriage, but it will be known that you were once married to someone prior. However, even in 2019, there are still people who think divorce is a nasty, nasty word and carries a horrible stigma, so they rather choose to have an annulment rather than get a simpler divorce.

Types of Marriage Annulment in Nevada

What you may or may not know is there are a few different types of annulments you can get while you are in the state of Nevada.

You should never confuse a religious annulment with a civil annulment.

You are probably wondering what in the world is a religious annulment, if you are religious or belong to a strict religion, you will know divorce is heavily frowned upon. If you would like to get remarried, it is next to impossible to get remarried within the same church.

Well, there is a thing where you can get a religious annulment where you would have to go to your church or religion of choice to get your marriage annulled through them. However, this is not a legal binding thing. This won’t dissolve your marriage with the Nevada court, but will allow you to get remarried within that same church or faith once again.

While on the other hand a civil annulment is going to be the legal binding procedure with the Nevada court.

How to Get an Annulment? Requirements Must be Met

You should know that you cannot get an annulment for just anything in the state of Nevada, there are only certain reasons, or on certain grounds that an annulment will be approved.

However, those certain reasons are listed below:

  • The lack of insanity or understanding when it comes to your spouse or you
  • The lack of consent of guardian or parent, in cases where this applies.
  • The lies and/or fraud by either your spouse or you that started this marriage in the first place.
  • The marriage should never have been done since it was illegal as you and your spouse were related too closely
  • Your spouse or you were already married to someone while you got married again

What is the Process to Get an Annulment in Nevada?

For you to officially file for an annulment in the courts of Nevada, you or your current spouse, will have to reside in the state for a minimum of six weeks before you can file. If you currently do not reside in the state of Nevada, then you will have had to have been married in the state for you to file without residing here currently.

First and foremost, you will have to file a complaint for an annulment. This will be your first step of this entire procedure. In this complaint, you will need to give out the standard information on your spouse, you, your children you have with one another, your marriage, and what grounds you will be using to get this annulment.

After you finish filing the complaint, you will be required to have an outside adult hand-deliver, the copy of the complaint to your spouse. Whoever you choose to be that outside adult to hand-deliver the compliant will be required to fill out the Affidavit of Service, which will need to be submitted to the court of Nevada.

After you serve your spouse with the complaint, your spouse will have the chance to respond. Your spouse can file his or her answer or they can choose to file a counterclaim.

If your spouse goes with just filing their answer, then the Nevada court will schedule what is known as a case management conference which will happen in or around 90 days from the time, they file their answer.

After you have your case management conference, a judge will then schedule a hearing to ultimately decide if or if not, an annulment is going to be the right path for this certain case.

During this hearing with the judge, your spouse and you will have the chance to testify. The both of you can give the judge your evidence that either supports the annulment or does not support the annulment.

Now, if your spouse chose not to file an answer with the court, then the clerk can issue a “default” against your spouse. A default meaning that your spouse has failed to respond to the complaint at hand. Once this is done, the judge presiding over the case can officially enter the Decree of Annulment.

What is the After Effects?

Once the judge decides that an annulment is good for this case, your marriage will be voided as soon as the Decree of Annulment is signed.

However, if you and your spouse have children with one another, in the state of Nevada’s eyes, these kids will still be “legitimate” even if you get an annulment. This means the father will still have the same father privileges as he would have if you guys didn’t get your marriage annulled.