Texas annulment laws let a court declare a marriage legally invalid from the start, but only when the petitioner proves one of the specific grounds listed in Chapter 6 of the Texas Family Code. A judge will not grant an annulment because the marriage was short or because the spouses regret it. You have to show a real legal defect, file in the right county, and in most cases prove you stopped living with the other spouse once you learned of the problem.
Void Marriages and Voidable Marriages Are Not the Same Thing
Before anything else, figure out which category your marriage falls into. The answer changes what you have to prove and whether you technically need a court order at all.
A void marriage is one the law refuses to recognize no matter what. Bigamy is the classic example: if your spouse was already married to someone else when you held the ceremony, your marriage never existed in the eyes of the law. Marriages between close blood relatives, including first cousins, are also void from inception. You do not strictly need a judicial declaration to establish that a void marriage is invalid, but getting one is still the right move. Without a formal decree, you may struggle to prove your marital status to government agencies, creditors, or insurers.
A voidable marriage is different. It stays legally valid until a court says otherwise. If neither spouse ever files, the marriage stands. Most Texas annulment cases involve voidable marriages, and that means walking into court, proving a ground, and getting a judge to sign a decree. Walking away is not enough.
Grounds for Annulling a Voidable Marriage
Texas recognizes a short list of reasons that will support a voidable annulment. Your facts have to fit squarely inside one of them.
- Underage marriage. A spouse married under 18 without proper court authorization can seek annulment, as can a parent or guardian. The right is lost if the underage spouse voluntarily keeps living with the other party after turning 18.
- Intoxication. If a spouse was so impaired by alcohol or drugs at the ceremony that they could not consent, they can petition, provided they have not voluntarily lived with the other spouse since sobering up.
- Impotency. If one spouse was permanently unable to have sexual intercourse at the time of the marriage and the other did not know, the unknowing spouse can file. Continuing to live together after discovering it bars the claim.
- Fraud, duress, or force. A spouse tricked into the marriage, or coerced into it physically or emotionally, can petition. The same cohabitation bar applies.
- Mental incapacity. If a spouse lacked the mental ability to understand the marriage ceremony and its obligations, that person or their guardian can file. Living together after regaining capacity ends the claim.
- Concealed divorce. Texas requires a 30-day wait after a divorce before remarrying. If your spouse’s prior divorce was finalized less than 30 days before your wedding and you did not know, you can seek annulment, as long as you did not continue living together after learning the truth.
- Marriage during the 72-hour waiting period. Texas requires 72 hours between the marriage license and the ceremony. A marriage held before that window closes, with no applicable exception, can be annulled.
The Cohabitation Rule That Sinks Most Cases
Nearly every voidable ground carries the same catch: once you learn of the defect, you have to stop living with the other spouse as a married couple. Stay in the home for another six months after discovering fraud and a judge is likely to treat your conduct as ratification of the marriage. The reasoning is simple. If you knew the marriage was defective and chose to continue it, you accepted it.
Cohabitation here does not just mean sharing an address like roommates. It means living together as spouses. The burden sits on the petitioner to show a clean break between learning of the problem and moving out. There is no fixed number of days that counts as acting promptly, which gives judges real discretion and makes outcomes harder to predict than most people assume.
Deadlines for Filing
Time limits depend on the ground. For an underage marriage, the right to annul generally ends when the minor turns 18 and keeps living with the other spouse. For a concealed divorce, you must file before the first anniversary of the marriage. For a violation of the 72-hour waiting period, the petition must be filed within 30 days of the ceremony. Miss that window and the ground is gone.
Intoxication, fraud, duress, and mental incapacity do not have a fixed statutory deadline, but the cohabitation bar works as an informal clock. The longer you wait after learning the truth, the harder it gets to convince a judge you did not ratify the marriage.
Where and How to File
At least one spouse must have lived in Texas for the preceding six months and in the county of filing for at least 90 days before the petition is filed.1State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 6-301 This matches the residency rule Texas applies to divorce. If the ceremony itself took place in Texas, courts sometimes allow filing in the county of the ceremony even when neither party currently lives there, though that is handled case by case.
Standing to file usually belongs to a spouse. For underage marriages, a parent or court-appointed guardian can file on behalf of the minor. For mental incapacity cases, the incapacitated person’s legal guardian can bring the suit.
The case starts with an Original Petition to Annul Marriage, filed with the District Clerk. The petition must list both spouses’ full names and addresses, the date and location of the ceremony, and the specific legal ground supporting the request. If there are children of the marriage, their names, ages, and living arrangements go in too, because the court has to address custody and support before signing anything.
Filing fees in Texas typically run between $350 and $400, depending on the county and whether children are involved. In Bexar County, the fee is $350 for an annulment without children and $401 when children are part of the case.2Bexar County, TX. Fee Schedule Fee waiver forms are available for petitioners who cannot afford the cost.
Serving the Other Spouse
After filing, you have to formally notify the other spouse through service of process. That usually means a constable, sheriff’s deputy, or private process server hand-delivers the papers. Costs vary. In Bexar County, issuance fees for service through a constable or private server start at $8, with the server adding their own charges.2Bexar County, TX. Fee Schedule If your spouse agrees to the annulment, they can sign a notarized Waiver of Service instead, which gets filed with the court.
The Prove-Up Hearing
Even in uncontested cases, you have to appear at a prove-up hearing. It is not a full trial, but you will testify under oath about the facts supporting your ground. The judge will likely ask when you discovered the problem, whether you kept living with your spouse afterward, and what evidence backs up your claim. Documentation helps: text messages showing fraud, medical records supporting an impotency or incapacity claim, or a copy of the spouse’s divorce decree in a concealed-divorce case. If the judge finds the evidence sufficient, they sign a Final Decree of Annulment, and both parties revert to single status.
Property, Children, and Support
A common misconception is that because the marriage never existed, there is nothing to divide. Texas courts can and do divide property acquired during an annulled marriage. The Family Code gives judges authority to order a division that is “just and right,” using essentially the same framework they apply in divorce cases. A house bought during the marriage, retirement savings, and debts are all on the table.
Children born during an annulled marriage are still considered legitimate under Texas law. Annulment does not change a child’s legal relationship with either parent. The court can issue conservatorship, possession, and child support orders just as it would in a divorce, and the judge will not finalize the annulment without resolving those questions.
Spousal support is harder to get after an annulment than after a divorce. Because the marriage is legally erased, the basis for ongoing maintenance is weaker. Courts have discretion, but awards in annulment cases are uncommon absent extreme circumstances.
Federal Benefits Can Disappear
Annulment carries consequences beyond state court. The Social Security Administration defines a prior marriage as one that ended by divorce or death, and its benefits guidance does not treat annulled marriages the same way.3Social Security Administration. More Info: If You Had A Prior Marriage A divorced spouse married at least 10 years can claim benefits on the ex’s record. An annulled spouse generally cannot, because in the government’s eyes the marriage never happened.
This matters most for people ending long marriages. If you have any reason to think you might qualify for Social Security benefits based on your spouse’s work history, talk to a family law attorney before choosing annulment over divorce. The difference can be worth tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime.
When Divorce Is the Better Choice
Not every unhappy marriage qualifies for annulment, and even when a ground technically exists, pursuing it is sometimes the wrong strategic call. Annulment requires proving a specific defect. A Texas divorce requires only that the marriage has become “insupportable because of discord or conflict” with no reasonable expectation of reconciliation. If your evidence for the annulment ground is thin, a contested annulment can be longer, more expensive, and less certain than a straightforward no-fault divorce.
The practical differences between the two outcomes are smaller than most people expect. Both result in property division. Both allow custody and support orders. The real distinction is the legal status of the marriage itself: an annulment says it never existed, while a divorce says it existed and ended. For some people that distinction carries personal or religious weight. For others, the federal benefits consequences tip the decision toward divorce. The right path depends on why the distinction matters to you and whether your facts actually support the ground you would need to prove.