Saturday, August 5, 2017

The Grounds for Annulment in New York


Accomplished attorney Gordon Burrows has spent more than three decades serving clients in the New York area. A graduate of St. John’s University School of Law and former assistant county attorney for Westchester County, Gordon Burrows handles family and matrimonial legal matters such as divorce and annulment through his own legal practice.

In the state of New York, an annulment removes all record of a marriage, but it is not very easy to get. Annulments are only given out when the marriage was void from the beginning and it meets one of the following five strict requirements laid out by the state:

1. When the marriage occurred, one or both individuals were under the age of 18. If the two individuals stay married until they are both over the age of 18, this stipulation can be waived.

2. At least one spouse was incapable of agreeing to marriage due to a mental incapacity. This stipulation may also be waived if it is proven that the spouse who is mentally ill was of sound mind at any point in time during cohabitation.

3. Either party involved in the marriage is medically or psychologically proven to be incapable of having sexual intercourse.

4. Either spouse develops an incurable mental illness that persists for at least five years. The mental condition afflicting the spouse must be proven by a doctor.

5. Consent for marriage was obtained from one spouse through the use of fraud, duress, or coercion.