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How to Get an Annulment in Virginia (Part A)

Divorce can be a nerve-racking and difficult event in any woman's life. If you want to avoid a divorce, but have recognized that your marriage has come to an end, you may be curious about the Virginia marriage annulment process and options for legal annulment in Virginia.

You may recall a few years ago when pop star Britney Spears married her childhood friend, Jason Allen Alexander, in a chapel in Las Vegas. Spears officially filed for marriage annulment 2 days after the wedding, citing the couple's lack of basic knowledge of one another's life goals and desires. The brief marital encounter lasted 55 hours before the annulment was official.

Marriages seldom work that way in the real world. Though there is a chance that you are seeking to annul a marriage just hours after it transpired, most likely, you are coping with a far more complicated situation, which may include 1 or more children, shared marital property, division of assets and issues of spousal support.

Also important to note is that the laws for annulment in Virginia are not the same as those in Nevada, where Spears was able to receive her quickie annulment. There are very specific rules governing annulment in Virginia which disqualify most couples.

Definition of Annulment

An annulment functions retroactively and acts like an eraser of the past. The legal process of an annulment renders your marriage null and void, essentially saying that it was never valid from the beginning. This is in contrast to a divorce, which functions to legally divide and end a "valid" marriage and separate you and your spouse.

What are the grounds for getting an annulment in Virginia?

Legal marriage annulment in Virginia is a possibility, but most married couples do not qualify for annulment.

The 3 types of Virginia marriages that qualify for annulment in Virginia are as follows

A marriage where there was a defect in the marriage itself
Unions in which one of the spouses withheld a crucial piece of information from the other
Marriages involving fraud

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