Florida Divorce * Child Custody * Domestic Violence Law Lawyer | Boynton Beach » Annulment

US Leads the World in Catholic Annulments

Janet Langjahr — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 04:36:42 +0000

Six (6%) percent of the globe’s Catholics live in the US.

Yet, of the marriage annulments granted by the Catholic Church, a whoppingly disproportionate sixty (60%) percent of them are granted to residents of the US.

These recently released skewed statistics touched off considerable debate.

The Catholic Church justified the numbers by patting itself on the back for issuing annulments expeditiously.

Other commentators found fault with Americans.

Do You Have Grounds for Annulment? Only Your Spouse’s Mind Reader May Know for Sure

Janet Langjahr — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 03:34:42 +0000

Husband seeks church annulment of his marriage to Wife.

His cited grounds: Wife approves of open marriages, in which both spouses are free to have other sexual partners. She expresses this abstract position to Husband before their marriage.

But Wife has never actually cheated on Husband in any way, shape or form. She has been totally faithful, just freethinking.

Husband is granted an annulment of their marriage by a court of the Catholic Church in Italy.

Wife appeals the annulment in a divorce court in Italy … and the annulment is upheld and Wife is denied alimony because of her abstract, heretical beliefs.

After further appeals by Wife, Italy’s top appellate court upholds all of the previous rulings.

Annulment Denied, Even Though Husband Thought He Was Marrying a More Well-Off Wife Than She Turned Out to Be

Janet Langjahr — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 03:46:47 +0000

Australian Husband and Wife marry.

Husband is under the impression that Wife holds substantial property.

Several months after the wedding, Husband learns that Wife’s holdings are less substantial than he had thought.

Husband seeks an annulment, arguing fraud by Wife.

At trial, the court rules that there was no fraud as to the nature of the occasion of the wedding. The court finds that Husband had the power to consent to marriage and did in fact agree to marry Wife.

Since there was no fraud as to the fact of marriage or identity of the bride, the Australian court holds that the marriage is not subject to annulment.

May a Born Male Who Undergoes a Sex Change Operation Legally Marry a Male in a State That Doesn’t Recognize Same-Sex Marriage? The Answer Determines Whether “Widow” or Children Collect Deceased Firefighter’s Death Benefits

Janet Langjahr — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:08:16 +0000

Texas Husband, a firefighter, has Children from his first marriage, to Mother.

Husband remarries Wife.

Husband dies fighting a fire.

Husband’s legal beneficiaries can expect to receive death benefits and insurance proceeds in an amount close to $600,000. Wife has already collected $60,000.

The issue: who should Husband’s legal beneficiaries be deemed to be under Texas law?

It turns out that Wife was born a man, and subsequently had a sex change operation.

Texas law does not recognize same sex marriages.

Husband’s mother has filed suit to have Husband’s marriage to Wife annulled as void, as though Husband and Wife had never been legally married. That would leave Children as Husband’s sole heirs.

Husband’s family asserts that Husband only found out about Wife’s sex change operation a few months before his death and, because of it, wanted a divorce from Wife.

Prior to Husband’s death, Mother tried to modify custody of Children to strip Husband of joint custody, to keep Children away from Wife. In those proceedings, both Husband and Wife testified that Husband did not know that Wife was transgender.

E-mails support Wife’s assertion that Husband knew her genetic history from the get-go, and that they were still together at the time of Husband’s death.

Regardless of when Husband learned that Wife was transgender, Husband hadn’t filed for divorce … or taken steps to disinherit Wife before his death.

But, legally, under Texas law, what is the gender of a born male who undergoes a sex change operation? And can such a person legally marry a male under Texas law?

A Texas trial court has temporarily frozen Husband’s estate’s assets (except for needed support for Children) pending ruling on Husband’s mother’s action for annulment.

New York Appellate Court Holds It Can Annul Civil Unions Even Though New York Doesn’t Recognize Them

Janet Langjahr — Thu, 20 May 2010 02:23:14 +0000

New York, like Florida, does not recognize gay marriage or civil unions.

But what about annulments of them?

Gay couple (Couple) enter a civil union in Vermont.

Couple break up.

Couple file for annulment in New York state.

New York trial court dismisses the case on the ground that, since New York doesn’t recognize same sex marriages or the equivalent, its courts can’t address them.

Couple appeal.

An intermediate level appeals court reverses the trial court, holding that New York courts may annul out-of-state marriages or civil unions.

Wife Seeks Annulment On Grounds That Husband Has Prior Wife, Subsequent Wife, Secretly Converted to a Different Religion and Lied About the Reasons for His Absences from Home

Janet Langjahr — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:31:54 +0000

Michigan Husband and Wife have two children together.

Husband is a podiatrist.

Husband works long hours and travels a good bit.

Wife is in counseling over marriage-related issues.

Wife’s therapist suggest that she do some “digging” on Husband, using the internet and phone records.

Wife agrees.

And is shocked by what she finds.

Husband was already married to another woman in another state when he married Wife. They were never legally divorced before his marriage to Wife.

Wife knows Husband as a Protestant.

Wife discovers Husband has secretly converted to the Muslim faith .. and adopted an Arabic name. Husband has also traveled to the Middle East twice on spiritual journeys.

Oh, and Husband married another woman subsequent to his marriage to her … in an Islamic wedding ceremony in Canada.

Husband’s position is that he thought he was divorced from his first wife when he married Wife, and that his third marriage was not formalized but only enacted to spare the bride from having to go through with an arranged marriage against her will.

Wife seeks an annulment.

And this is one of the relatively unusual grounds that would support an annulment in lieu of a divorce, at least under Florida’s law pertaining to annulment.

Kansas Man Gets Slap on Wrist for Bigamy and Identity Theft … But Defrauded Wife is Going for Money

Janet Langjahr — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:01:17 +0000

Husband and Wife have been married for 22 years.

But that didn’t stop sixty-two year old Husband from marrying another woman who lives in the same rental complex.

Husband is charged with bigamy and identity theft and convicted of the charges.

Husband is sentenced only to eighteen months’ probation.

Husband’s “second wife” may have punished him worse than the law.

She is pursuing an annulment … and compensation for roughly $50,000 worth of jewelry that she alleges Husband took and sold for cash.

Although many unhappy spouses would prefer an annulment to a divorce, the above scenario is one of the few ways that a spouse can qualify for an annulment under Florida law.

Florida Annulment: Highly Desired, Rarely Acquired

Janet Langjahr — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:47:24 +0000

So many people whose marriages fall apart very quickly after the honeymoon simply assume that the marriage can be annulled, voided, as though it had never happened.

They most often prefer that over divorce for religious or other purely personal reasons. Occasionally, for long-term or short-term financial motivations.

The financial consequences of annulment can be quite different from those of divorce.

But, under Florida law, it is the rare marriage that is eligible for annulment. There are two different types of marriages that can be annulled and they each can have different consequences.

It gets pretty technical. But, either way, only rarely does a marriage meet either set of criteria.

So it’s hardly anything but painful to ponder the difference in financial consequences.

But that’s what a recently published article set out to do, just the same.

Unfortunately, it isn’t until you get to nearly the end of the article that the author reveals that it isn’t purely a matter of free choice whether to divorce or annul a marriage.

In a nutshell, when a marriage is annulled, the court strives to put the parties back into the same financial position as they were in immediately before the marriage.

WI: Immigrant Spouse Loses Legal Status Because Partner’s Birth Certificate Was Amended to Same Gender After Genitalia Surgery for Health Reasons

Janet Langjahr — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 05:55:48 +0000

Immigrant woman marries American from Wisconsin.

Due to birth defects, for most of the American’s life, this individual could have been denominated either a male or a female. But the original birth certificate designated this individual a male.

Prior to the marriage, this individual had surgical removal of male genitalia, reportedly solely for health reasons. The individual’s birth certificate was subsequently amended and her gender was re-designated as female.

The month after the marriage, the American went to court to amend the birth certificate to again designate him as male. The American argued that the original amendment was an error.

But the trial court and, later, an appellate court, refused, holding that the American was time-barred from challenging the original amendment of the birth certificate.

The couple’s marriage license was revoked and the marriage annulled, because same sex marriage is not legal in Wisconsin.

As a result, the New Zealand woman was denied a visa to remain in the US.

The American is quite distressed over the woman’s loss of legal status in the US and plans to appeal to the highest court available.

MA High Court to Decide Whether Annulment May Be Granted After Death of A Party

Janet Langjahr — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 03:57:13 +0000

The family of a wealthy elderly man who married a much younger woman, a previously convicted prostitute, wants to see through to its end the annulment begun while the husband was alive, despite his death.

Whether the law would permit a posthumous annulment is a question that has never been ruled on in Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, the deceased man’s surviving wife is fighting to dismiss the annulment case.

The man owned a million dollar home, the fate of which rides on the outcome of the annulment case.

Following an interesting procedure, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has indicated that it will take the case up on appeal after the trial court rules on the wife’s motion to dismiss, regardless of how the lower court rules.

The dead man’s family believes that the wife married him for his money – and planned to kill him to get it.

Celebrity Annulment Petition Alleges Fraud in “Simply Legal Language”

Janet Langjahr — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 21:12:18 +0000

After just four months of marriage, celebrity Renee Zellweger filed a now well-publicized petition for annulment. In the petition, she reportedly alleged fraud by husband Kenny Chesney. Since filing, Zellweger has been widely quoted as saying that the allegations were “simply legal language…and not a reflection of Kenny’s character”.

The case is interesting in two respects. First, it is one of those currently rare cases for annulment. Unlike divorce, which wraps up a marriage that has gone bad, annulment erases the marriage, as though it never happened in the first place.

For many reasons, people often prefer to annul their marriages rather than divorce. But annulments are typically much harder to get, requiring grounds – even in states which normally have “no fault” divorce.

Second, the fraud allegations cited may be intended to qualify this marriage for annulment. In Florida, fraudulent inducement of marriage is one of the handful of grounds for annulment. (But Florida has additional requirements as well.)

Although I am not expressing any opinion about the meaning of the quoted language in the first paragraph, some folks might be tempted to interpret that language as a virtual admission that the allegation is an empty one, made solely to satisfy a legal requirement.

Although it may be different in California, if a family court petition in Florida is not filed through an attorney, the person filing the petition must swear in writing to the truth of its contents. Even if that requirement doesn’t apply, unless the case is settled by mutual agreement, the person filing the petition in Florida will eventually have to testify in court as to the grounds – or no final judgment will be entered.

But this case is in Tinseltown. Where fiction rules.

Don’t try this at home.

Divorce, Annulment, Neither or Other?

Janet Langjahr — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 22:32:02 +0000

“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.