To get an annulment in Alabama, you file a petition in the circuit court of the county where you or your spouse lives, pay a filing fee of $147 in most counties, and prove that a specific legal defect made the marriage invalid from the day of the wedding. The process looks a lot like divorce on paper, but the ruling is different: instead of ending a valid marriage, the judge declares that no valid marriage ever existed.
Do You Actually Have Grounds
Alabama courts grant annulments only when something was fundamentally wrong with the marriage from the start. Many people who want an annulment do not qualify for one, so this is the first thing to work out. The grounds split into two groups: marriages that are void (never valid under any circumstances) and marriages that are voidable (valid until a court says otherwise).
Void Marriages
Some marriages are treated as legally nonexistent from the moment they happen. In Alabama, these include marriages between close blood relatives and bigamous marriages where one spouse was already married to someone else.1Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 13A-13-1 – Bigamy
Voidable Marriages
Voidable marriages are legally valid until a court declares otherwise. The main grounds are:
- Underage marriage. Both parties must be at least 16, and a 16- or 17-year-old needs a parent or guardian to sign a notarized affidavit of consent filed with the probate court. A marriage where one spouse was under 16, or where the required parental consent was missing, can be annulled.2Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 30-1-5 – Consent of Parents Required for Marriage of Certain Minors
- Mental incapacity. If one spouse could not understand the nature of the marriage because of mental illness, intellectual disability, or intoxication, the marriage is voidable. The incapacity has to have existed at the moment of the ceremony, not just before or after.
- Fraud. A spouse who was deceived about something central to the marriage can seek annulment. Common examples include hiding an inability to have children, concealing an existing marriage, or lying about identity. The deception has to be significant enough that the other spouse would not have agreed to marry if they had known the truth.
- Coercion. If one spouse was forced or seriously threatened into the marriage, it is voidable. The pressure has to go beyond persuasion, and the petitioner must show they had no reasonable alternative but to go through with the ceremony.
How Quickly You Need to Act
Alabama does not set a single statutory deadline for all annulments, but courts expect you to act promptly once the problem comes to light. Delay is the most common reason annulment petitions fail. Judges read prolonged inaction as acceptance of the marriage, which can turn a strong claim into a weak one.
- Fraud: file within a reasonable time after discovering the deception. Continuing to live as a married couple after learning the truth undercuts the claim.
- Mental incapacity or intoxication: file soon after the affected spouse regains capacity. Staying in the marriage after you can make decisions signals acceptance.
- Underage marriage: the annulment generally must be sought before the underage spouse reaches 19, the age of majority in Alabama.3Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 26-1-1 – Age of Majority Designated as 19 Years
If you think you have grounds, talk to a lawyer before months slip by.
Where and How to File
You file in the circuit court of the county where you or your spouse lives. If both of you currently live in Alabama, either can file right away with no waiting period. If your spouse lives out of state, the filing spouse must have been a genuine Alabama resident for at least six months before submitting the petition, and the petition has to state and prove that residency.4Alabama Legislature. Alabama Code 30-2-5 – Residency Requirement for Plaintiff When Defendant Nonresident If children are involved, the court also has to be satisfied that Alabama qualifies as the children’s home state, which generally means they have lived here for the past six months.
The petition itself is a written document that identifies both spouses, describes the marriage, and explains which ground for annulment applies. Include any supporting evidence, or at least describe the facts that support your claim.
Filing Fee
Alabama sets a uniform statewide filing fee of $147 for domestic relations cases, which includes annulments.5State of Alabama Unified Judicial System. Fee Distribution Chart Some counties add local surcharges, so call the circuit clerk in your county to confirm the exact amount. If you cannot afford the fee, you can ask the court to let you file without paying by submitting a financial affidavit showing your income and expenses.
Serving Your Spouse
After you file, your spouse has to be formally served with a copy of the petition. You cannot hand it to them yourself. Service is typically handled by the county sheriff or a private process server. If your spouse cannot be located after a reasonable effort, the court may allow service by publication, which means running a notice in a local newspaper for a set number of weeks. The court clerk can explain the service options available in your county.
The Hearing
Once your spouse has been served, the court schedules a hearing. You carry the burden of proving your grounds. Bring evidence that supports your claim: medical records showing incapacity, communications revealing fraud, witnesses who can testify to coercion, or documents proving a prior undissolved marriage.
Your spouse can contest the annulment. They might argue the fraud was not material, that you knew the truth before the wedding, or that you kept the marriage going after learning the facts. The judge weighs the evidence and decides whether to declare the marriage void. If the judge denies the annulment, you still have the option of filing for divorce.
What an Annulment Changes After the Ruling
Property
Because an annulment erases the marriage legally, the court does not divide assets the way it would in a divorce. Alabama’s equitable division rules for marital property do not technically apply, since no valid marriage existed. Instead, the court looks at who actually owns each asset, who paid for it, and whether either spouse contributed enough that it would be unfair to leave them with nothing. In practice, judges have broad discretion to reach a fair result.
Children
An annulment does not make children illegitimate. Alabama law explicitly protects children born during marriages that are later annulled, including children of incestuous marriages.6Justia. Alabama Code 30-1-3 – Issue of Incestuous Marriages Not Deemed Illegitimate The same principle applies to children of bigamous or other void marriages. Both parents keep their parental rights and obligations, including child support. Custody decisions follow the same standard used in divorce: the best interests of the child. The annulment itself does not favor one parent over the other.
Taxes
The IRS treats an annulled marriage as though it never happened. You are considered unmarried for every tax year the marriage covered, even if you filed joint returns during those years.7Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501 (2025), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information Once the annulment is final, you have to file amended returns on Form 1040-X for each affected tax year that is still within the statute of limitations, switching your filing status to single or head of household as appropriate.
The deadline for claiming a refund on an amended return is generally three years from the date you filed the original return, or two years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later.8Internal Revenue Service. File an Amended Return If the annulment takes years to finalize, some earlier tax years may already be closed. The recalculation can go either way: some people end up owing more as single filers, while others discover they overpaid and are owed a refund. Skipping this step can trigger penalties and interest.
Social Security
If you were receiving Social Security spousal benefits, you lose them going forward once the marriage is annulled. If you were receiving benefits on your own record before the marriage and lost them when you married, the Social Security Administration can reinstate those prior benefits starting from the month the annulment decree is issued, as long as you file a timely application.9Social Security Administration. Social Security Handbook 1853 – Reinstatement of Benefits When Marriage Terminates
Immigration
An annulment creates serious complications for a non-citizen spouse whose green card is based on the marriage. A spouse with conditional permanent residence normally files a joint Form I-751 petition with the other spouse to remove the conditions, and joint filing is not possible after an annulment.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Removing Conditions on Permanent Residence Based on Marriage The non-citizen spouse can apply for a waiver of the joint filing requirement, but they have to show the marriage was entered into in good faith and not to get around immigration laws. If annulment proceedings are still pending when the I-751 deadline arrives, USCIS will accept a jointly filed petition, then request the final annulment decree and convert the filing to a waiver application. Get an immigration attorney involved early. The stakes include potential loss of legal status in the United States.
When to Bring in a Lawyer
Uncontested annulments where both spouses agree on the grounds and have no children or shared property can sometimes be handled without a lawyer. Anything more complicated than that benefits from legal help. Contested cases, situations involving children, shared real estate, or immigration consequences all carry risks that are hard to manage on your own. An attorney can also tell you whether your situation is stronger as an annulment or a divorce, since many people who believe they qualify for annulment do not actually meet the specific grounds Alabama requires.