Annulment or Nullity of Marriage – Void Marriages – California Family Code Sections 2200 & 2201

A marriage that is declared void is deemed invalid from the beginning. This basically means that a marriage never legally occurred as far as California law is concerned (Family Code Section 2200).

A marriage may be declared void on the grounds of:

• Incest: This includes marriages between parent and child, ancestors and decedents of every degree, between brothers and sisters (including half-siblings), between uncles and nieces and aunts and nephews (Family Code Section 2200).
• Bigamy: Any subsequent marriage is void from the start if either party has a living spouse and did not properly dissolve or nullify that marriage before attempting to re-marry (Family Code Section 2201).
• Failure to Comply with State Licensing Requirements: A marriage can be rendered void if the parties fail to satisfy any of the requirements needed for a valid marriage in California (Family Code Section 306).

Exception

There is, however, one exception that applies to nullity proceedings based on bigamy grounds. Sometimes, a subsequent marriage in which either party still has a living spouse from a prior marriage may be rendered merely voidable, which means that the subsequent marriage will be valid until a court declares it void (Family Code Section 2201). However, this only results in situations where the former spouse was:

• Missing,
• Not known by the party to be living for five consecutive years immediately preceding the subsequent marriage,
• Or presumed dead at the time of the marriage.