Florida Divorce * Child Custody * Domestic Violence Law Lawyer | Boca Raton

“My spouse and I were married twenty-five years ago when we lived in another state. I found out later that our marriage was invalid. I want out of the ‘marriage’ now anyway. What do I do?”

Cases like this can be complicated, and the answer depends on the particular facts.

Why was the marriage invalid? Was the other spouse responsible? Did the other spouse know all along? When did the inquiring spouse find out about the invalidity? Did he or she take any action at that time? Are there children? Is there ‘marital property’? Does the inquiring ’spouse’ want anything beyond “getting out”?

Florida generally will not grant a divorce unless a couple was actually married.

What other states did the couple live in during the ‘marriage’? Perhaps they established a valid common law marriage under the laws of another state that they may have lived in previously.

Florida couples cannot establish common law marriages based on cohabitation here (since 1968). But Florida may recognize a valid common law marriage established under the laws of another state at the time that a couple lived there. If Florida recognizes a common law marriage entered in another state, Florida may grant a divorce.

But if divorce does not fit the facts of the case, depending on the reason that the ‘marriage’ was invalid, it is possible that the ‘marriage’ may be annulled. But, for several reasons, Florida courts disfavor annulment.

Annulment does not always fit the facts of the case just because divorce is not available though. In those cases, ending the bogus marriage may be as simple as walking away.

But in those cases, the inquiring ’spouse’ will have no right to division of ‘marital property’ and no potential right to alimony, as they may at the end of a marriage. Does that mean they walk away with nothing?

Not necessarily. Depending on the facts of the case, the ’spouse’ may be able to resort to other, substantially equivalent but less common legal strategies to get what they are entitled to.