Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: Anullment

There is no time limit on an annulment if you have grounds for the annulment. Without those grounds, an annulment is never granted, no matter how soon after the marriage one might file for it.

An annulment can be granted only when there is a reason, existing before the wedding occurs, that the marriage is invalid. For instance, a marriage is invalid if one party is already married or if the parties are too closely related (brother and sister, first cousins, parent and child). You can file for an annulment without a lawyer, but I would not advise it. "Consummation" of an invalid marriage is not really consummation, no matter what sexual activity takes place by the parties, because they are not really married (an annulment is really a recording in the court records that no legitimate marriage has occurred). For the same reason, a pre-nuptual agreement is unenforceable, since there was actually no marriage. Most often, people who want an annulment actually need to file for a divorce, since not a lot of people marry extremely close relatives or marry someone while they are already married.