The concept of annulment is not at all similar to divorce. Many of us believe that the two are closely related due to the fact that the final result is same, that is, the marriage legally dissolves. The legal procedure and their basis is however different. Annulment of marriage is declaring the marriage to be null and void, ab initiation, this basically, means that the marriage is not valid right from the beginning, due to some or the other circumstances, events or facts relating to the marriage. A divorce is however the end of a legal and lawful marriage, that was valid right from the beginning. Thus, from a legal prospective, laws pertaining to annulment and divorce are quite different. These laws in all the states of US are either practiced in the civil courts and, in some cases, are also practiced in the Catholic Church. Cases have been observed when a combination of all the three grounds of annulment have been observed. It is up to the judge or jury of the court to ascertain whether the said marriage can be annulled or not.



