Making the decision to end a marriage and live apart is never easy. In Wagoner, Oklahoma, marriage is viewed as a personal relationship that arises out of a legal contract between two people.
Like all contracts, marriage can be ended in a number of ways under divorce laws and Oklahoma annulment rules.
A divorce terminates a valid marriage contract. An annulment treats the contract as if it never existed.
Divorce still carries some stigma and in some religious communities, divorced couples cannot remarry within the community. For these couples, annulment is one way to end a union and retain dignity and the ability to remarry.
FAQ: Oklahoma Annulment Rules
Since the state treats marriage as a contract, the grounds under Oklahoma annulment rules are those that would prohibit the marriage contract from being validly formed. That means that the marriage is either void or voidable under the law.
Void marriages are those prohibited by law; incestuous, bigamous, and polygamous marriages are legally prohibited in Oklahoma. These marriages are void under Oklahoma annulment rules.
Voidable marriages are those that are not prohibited, but which may be declared invalid under certain circumstances. Under Oklahoma law, these circumstances include: age, mental capacity, and fraud. All of these grounds are based in the inability to give proper consent to the formation of the contract.
If one or both parties were under the legal age required for marriage, then there is no legal consent given and the contract is invalid. The same is true for mental capacity. If one or both parties lack the mental capacity to fully understand what he or she was doing and to consent, the contract is invalid.
What About Fraud and Oklahoma Annulment Rules?
The legal issue with fraud under Oklahoma annulment rules is a bit different. Here consent is vitiated if either party is persuaded to marry under fraudulent circumstances or under force of duress, coercion, or the like. In these examples, consent is nullified by the circumstances.
If one of the parties is forced into the marriage, there is no real consent. Likewise, if fraud or misrepresentation is used to manipulate the other party into a Wagoner marriage, there is no real consent either.
If a petition for annulment is brought under one of these grounds, and the issue of consent has not yet been rectified, the court may grant an annulment. However, if the consent problem has been corrected somehow—the young spouse is now of age—the court may refuse to grant the annulment.
Additional Information
Oklahoma has a six-month cooling off period before a person is allowed to remarry legally within the state. A marriage that takes place before the expiration of that required period is a voidable marriage. An action to annul the marriage can be brought within the six-month period, and will be granted.
Free Consultation: Wagoner Divorce Attorney
When your marriage plans unravel, get the best legal counsel available. Don’t go it alone. Get an experienced, reliable Wagoner divorce attorney on your side.
Contact the Wirth Law Office – Wagoner at 918-485-0335 today to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation.