Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

Re: Annullment or Divorce

Annulment is a law that is used to make an "Illegal

Marriage" undone. What that means is that if you

entered into a marriage that was legally not valid

and you subsequently find out that your marriage

was not valid then you can go before the court and

ask for an annullment. (I am working from memory

here so I might be off a littl bit) but, I do not

believe there is a time limit associated with getting

an annullment.

There is a common lay person belief that if a

marriage is not consumated or is less than one

year in length then you can get an annulment

instead of a divorce. That belief is simply not

true - in law and in fact. In NM annulment is

a process used to 'undo' an otherwise invalid

marriage.

In NM the only way to get out of a marriage,

for all practical purposes, is to get a divorce.

You can also go to www.nmbar.org and get the

800 telephone number for the NM Bar Association

and call them for an attorney referral in your

area. Many towns and cities have attorney who

will meet with you for an initial consultation at

no cost or low cost (i.e., reduced fee). The

Bar Association can also tell you (if your town

is in NM) whether the local Bar Association operates

a Pro Se Divorce Clinic. Good Luck.