Annulments in Arizona

A court order declaring that a marriage was never legally valid, effectively dissolving it from its inception. It is a “legal fiction,” meaning that although the marriage did occur in fact, the law treats it as though it never existed. An annulment may be granted when a marriage is either void (not legally permitted) or voidable (has a defect that makes it legally invalid). Despite this legal fiction, certain realities of the annulled marriage may continue to exist: the court may still divide community property acquired during the marriage, and under Hodges v. Hodges, if a recipient of spousal maintenance remarries, that right terminates upon remarriage and cannot be revived if the subsequent marriage is later annulled.

See also Annulment Divorce Topic.