Marriage Annulment in Virginia: Grounds, Deadlines and Effects

A marriage annulment in Virginia is a court decree declaring that your marriage was never legally valid because of a defect that existed at the moment of the ceremony. It is not a divorce. A divorce ends a real marriage; an annulment treats the union as though it never happened. Whether you can get one depends on which of two categories your situation falls into, and, for most grounds, on how quickly you act.

Void and Voidable Marriages Are Not the Same Thing

Virginia law splits defective marriages into two groups, and the group determines the rules.

A void marriage was never legally valid. Technically no court order is needed to establish that, though getting a formal decree is still smart because without one you have no official record, which can create problems with property, benefits, and future marriages. A voidable marriage is treated as legally valid until a court says otherwise. You have to file a lawsuit, prove your ground, and meet strict deadlines.¹

Grounds That Make a Marriage Void

Three types of marriages are automatically void in Virginia:

Bigamy. One spouse was still legally married to someone else at the ceremony. Bigamous marriages are absolutely void without any court decree needed.²
Ancestor-descendant or sibling relationships. Marriages between a parent and child, grandparent and grandchild, or siblings, whether related by whole blood, half blood, or adoption.
Uncle/aunt and nephew/niece relationships. Whether related by half or whole blood.³

Because void marriages are treated as never having existed, no filing deadline applies. Either party can seek a court decree at any time.

Grounds That Make a Marriage Voidable

For a voidable annulment, you have to file a complaint and prove one of these existed at the wedding:

Fraud or duress. A deception about something essential to the marriage, or genuine coercion or threat. Courts look for fraud that goes to the heart of the relationship, not lying about income or background, and duress means actual coercion, not family pressure.⁴
Mental incapacity or infirmity. One spouse lacked the ability to understand what they were consenting to at the time of the wedding.¹
Incurable impotence. A natural or incurable physical incapacity that existed at the marriage and was unknown to the other spouse.
Undisclosed felony conviction. Before the marriage, one spouse had been convicted of a felony without the other’s knowledge.
Concealed pregnancy or paternity. The wife was pregnant by someone other than her husband at the wedding without his knowledge, or the husband had fathered a child born to another woman within 10 months of the wedding without his wife’s knowledge. This is a separate ground from fraud; you do not need to prove fraud, only that the pregnancy or paternity existed and was hidden.
Prior prostitution. Before the marriage, one spouse had been a prostitute without the other’s knowledge.⁴
Underage spouse. For any marriage on or after July 1, 2024, either party was under 18. Virginia eliminated all exceptions to the minimum marriage age of 18 as of that date.⁵

The Two Deadlines That Kill Most Annulment Cases

Two rules regularly block voidable annulments, and both catch people off guard.

First, you cannot obtain an annulment on any voidable ground if you and your spouse have been married for more than two years when you file. The court has no discretion to extend this.⁴

Second, you lose the right to annul if you kept living with your spouse after learning the facts that would have given you grounds. Discover a hidden felony conviction and stay in the home another year, and the court will deny the annulment. The law treats continued cohabitation after discovery as acceptance of the marriage.⁴

Both bars apply to every voidable ground, including fraud, duress, and mental incapacity. Neither applies to void marriages.

Filing the Complaint

You start the case by filing a Complaint for Annulment in a Virginia circuit court. At least one spouse must have been a genuine resident of Virginia for at least six months before filing.⁶ File in the circuit court for the city or county where that residency is met.

The complaint must include:

Full legal names and current addresses of both spouses
The date and location of the wedding
The specific ground for annulment, identified as void or voidable and the reason
A factual explanation of the ground, with dates and relevant events

Blank forms are available through the Virginia Judicial System’s website⁷ and at your local circuit court clerk’s office. The filing fee is $86.⁸

After filing, you must formally notify your spouse by service of process, usually a sheriff’s deputy or private process server delivering the complaint and summons. Your spouse then has 21 days to respond. If your spouse accepts the paperwork voluntarily through a waiver of service, the response window extends to 60 days, or 90 days if the waiver was sent outside Virginia.⁹ No response opens the door to a default judgment. A contested response sends the case to a hearing.

Proving Your Case at the Hearing

You carry the burden of proof, and the judge will expect concrete evidence, not just your word. What that looks like depends on the ground:

Bigamy. A certified copy of the other spouse’s prior marriage certificate and proof that marriage was never dissolved.
Fraud. Documents, messages, or testimony showing the deception and that it was central to your decision to marry.
Mental incapacity. Medical records or expert testimony about your spouse’s condition at the wedding.
Undisclosed felony. Criminal records from the relevant jurisdiction.
Concealed pregnancy. Medical records establishing conception dates.

Testimony from people who were present at the wedding or knew the circumstances helps. If you are the only witness, courts will scrutinize your account closely. This is where many annulments fall apart: the ground existed, but the evidence is too thin.

What an Annulment Does and Doesn’t Do

Property and Spousal Support

Because the marriage is treated as though it never existed, the court does not divide property the way it would in a divorce. Virginia’s equitable distribution statute applies only when a court decrees a dissolution or divorce, not an annulment.¹⁰ The same is true for spousal support, which the law authorizes only in connection with divorce or separate maintenance proceedings.¹¹

In practice, each person keeps what they brought in and what is titled in their name. If you bought a home together or commingled finances, sorting out ownership can get complicated without the structured framework a divorce provides. Anyone in that position should think carefully about whether an annulment or a divorce better protects their finances.

Children

Children born during an annulled marriage are considered legitimate under Virginia law.¹² The annulment does not affect inheritance rights or parental obligations. The court still makes orders for custody, visitation, and child support as it would in a divorce.

Taxes

Because the IRS treats an annulled marriage as though it never existed, you could not have filed as married in any year of the marriage. If you filed joint returns, you must file amended returns (Form 1040-X) for every affected year still within the statute of limitations, generally three years from the original filing date or two years from paying the tax, whichever is later. On each amended return, you change your filing status to single or, if you qualify, head of household.¹³ The result can go either way. If one spouse earned significantly more, splitting a joint return into two single returns could increase your combined tax bill, or produce a refund. Run the numbers before finalizing.

Health Insurance

Coverage under a spouse’s employer plan ends with the annulment. Federal law names divorce or legal separation as a qualifying event for up to 36 months of COBRA continuation coverage.¹⁴ The statute does not explicitly name annulment, but the resulting loss of coverage is functionally identical, and plan administrators generally treat it the same. Notify the administrator promptly.

Social Security

To claim Social Security on a former spouse’s record you generally need to have been married at least 10 years. Because an annulment erases the marriage, time in that relationship does not count toward the 10 years.¹⁵

Immigration

If you obtained a green card through the marriage and still hold conditional permanent resident status, the annulment does not automatically end that status. USCIS allows conditional residents to file a waiver of the joint filing requirement if they entered the marriage in good faith but it ended in divorce or annulment.¹⁶ You would file Form I-751 alone, with evidence the marriage was genuine when entered. The burden falls entirely on you, and an immigration attorney is worth consulting.

Religious Annulment Is a Separate Process

A religious annulment, particularly common under Catholic canon law, is not a civil annulment. It declares that a valid sacramental marriage never existed, but it has no effect on your legal status: you would still be legally married in the eyes of the state. A civil annulment likewise has no effect on your standing within a church. If you need both, you must pursue each process independently.

1
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-45.1 – Void and Voidable Marriages
2
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-43 – Bigamous Marriages Void Without Decree
3
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-38.1 – Certain Marriages Prohibited
4
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-89.1 – Suit to Annul Marriage
5
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-48 – Minimum Age of Marriage
6
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-97 – Domicile and Residential Requirements for Suits for Annulment, Affirmance, or Divorce
7
Virginia Judicial System. Forms
8
Virginia’s Judicial System. Circuit Court Fee Schedule – Appendix C
9
Supreme Court of Virginia. Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia – Rule 3:8
10
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-107.3 – Court May Decree as to Property and Debts of the Parties
11
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-107.1 – Court May Decree as to Maintenance and Support of Spouses
12
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-31.1 – When Marriage Legitimates Children
13
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 504 – Divorced or Separated Individuals
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 1163 – Qualifying Event
15
Social Security Administration. Social Security Handbook 1853
16
USCIS. Removing Conditions on Permanent Residence Based on Marriage