In the event you feel the need to bring your marriage or domestic partnership to an end, the State of New Jersey offers you two ways in which to do it: divorce and annulment.
As a no-fault divorce state, New Jersey allows you to file for divorce due to “irreconcilable differences,” and you need not state specific grounds in your petition therefor. You do, however, need grounds for an annulment.
Annulment grounds
Per Title 2A, Section 34-1 of the New Jersey Statutes, you must meet at least one of the following criteria to obtain an annulment:
- You were under 18 years of age at the time your marriage or domestic partnership took place.
- Your spouse or partner had another spouse or partner at the time your marriage or domestic partnership took place.
- You and your spouse or partner were first cousins or closer in relationship at the time your marriage or domestic partnership took place.
- Your spouse or partner was incurably impotent at the time your marriage or domestic partnership took place, a fact of which you were unaware at the time.
- You lacked the capacity to marry at the time your marriage or domestic partnership took place due to a mental condition or the influence of alcohol or drugs.
- Your spouse or partner coerced you into the marriage or domestic partnership or obtained your consent thereto by fraud.
Once you present evidence proving one of the above, the court will issue a judgment of nullity of marriage.
Additional annulment considerations
Keep in mind that whereas a divorce dissolves a legal marriage or domestic partnership, an annulment declares the marriage or partnership illegal from the beginning. In other words, your marriage or partnership never took place and you were and remain a single person.