Everyone hopes for a long and happy marriage, but sometimes issues arise that cause you to want a change in your circumstances. Typically, there are only two ways to end a marriage: through divorce or with the death of a spouse. However, in some cases, an annulment can end a marriage contract.
The legal process for an annulment is different from divorce, and only certain marriages qualify. A Tulsa annulment lawyer could help you determine if your marriage meets the criteria and give you advice on how to proceed. At LaCourse Law, we have knowledgeable divorce attorneys who are ready to serve you.
An annulment is a document that makes a marriage invalid from the day it occurred, no matter how long you have been married. This differs from both a divorce, which ends the marriage on the date of the divorce ruling, and a legal separation, which ends the marriage on the date you stopped living together.
An annulment requires proof that the marriage was never valid, and it takes a court order to declare the union void. This procedure ends the marriage and erases it from the public record. After an annulment, a lawyer may still work through the Tulsa courts to enter orders for property division, child support, and visitation rights.
Our attorneys at LaCourse Law know what proof is required and could assist you through the process of getting your Tulsa marriage declared legally void. Unlike divorce, in which you may simply agree that you cannot coexist anymore, annulment requires you to show that your marriage was illegal or invalid from the beginning. Grounds for annulment include:
In some situations, such as with fraud, lack of consent, or bigamy, you may need to show that your partner was aware of the condition and concealed it.
There are also some cases in which you or your partner could have been undergoing a prior divorce process, believed your divorce was finalized, and discovered that it is not. Even though there is no intent to commit a crime, this situation is still technically bigamy. In this situation, you must annul your current marriage, finalize your previous divorce, and then remarry to make the marriage valid.
Annulment is a more complicated process than divorce. A higher level of proof must be met, and you may have to show evidence of criminal behavior. In other instances, you may have innocently engaged in an action that resulted in your marriage being invalid and want to remedy the situation before things get worse.
In either case, you need the services of a Tulsa annulment lawyer from LaCourse Law to review the documents in the case and help you resolve the issues that led to the need for an annulment. If your case requires additional court orders, such as property division or child custody, we could assist you with these matters as well. Call us for a confidential case review today.
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