Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place (though some jurisdictions provide that the marriage is only void from the date of the annulment). In strict legal terminology, annulment refers only to making a voidable marriage null; if the marriage is void ab initio, then it is automatically null, although a legal declaration of nullity is required to establish this. The process of obtaining such a declaration is similar to the annulment process. Generally speaking, annulment, despite its retrospective nature, still results in any children born being considered legitimate in the United States and many other countries.

Noun

annulment (plural annulments)

1. An act or instance of annulling.
2. A state of having been annulled.
3. An invalidation of something, especially a legal contract
4. A legal (notably judicial) declaration that a marriage is invalid; the procedure leading to it.
5. (archaic) Total destruction.

Synonyms

• abolition
• nullification (cognate)
• cancellation