annulments
Legal union erasures
Annulments are official declarations that a marriage was never valid—distinct from divorces, which end valid marriages.
The Catholic Church grants annulments when marriages lacked proper consent, intention, or capacity from the start.
Civil annulments similarly void marriages as if they never existed: She sought an annulment after discovering he was already married.
Courts may also annul contracts or legal decisions, declaring them void.
Formal cancellation of validity
- voidanceInvalidation or evacuation
- invalidationAct of nullifying
- dissolutionBreaking up completely
- decreeAuthoritative legal command
petition · court · grounds · tribunal · jurisdiction · filing · judgment · matrimonial
Formal annulment of agreements
- cancellationVoiding of plans
- voidingNullifying or emptying
- breachBreaking of agreement
- agreementShared position between parties
nullification · invalid · unenforceable · revocation · termination · contract · parties · settlement
nullification
Formal cancellation of validity
- voidanceInvalidation or evacuation
- invalidationAct of nullifying
- dissolutionBreaking up completely
decree · petition · court · grounds · tribunal · jurisdiction · filing · judgment · matrimonial · statute
rescission
Formal annulment of agreements
- cancellationVoiding of plans
- voidingNullifying or emptying
- breachBreaking of agreement
agreement · nullification · invalid · unenforceable · revocation · termination · contract · parties · settlement · arbitration
divorce
Legal end of matrimony
- separationState of being apart
- dissolutionBreaking up completely
- voidWithout legal effect
invalid · spouse · wedding · ceremony · union · nullity · grounds · fraud · coercion · bigamy
Catholic
Papal church adherent
- ChurchOrganized religious denomination
- tribunalJudicial decision-making body
- dispensationOfficial permission to skip rules
sacrament · canonical · diocese · bishop · Vatican · impediment · validity · consent · Rota · parish
- Church disputesschism, Great Schism, Arian controversy, Monophysitism, iconoclasm
- legal actsassignment, agreements, bequest, contracts, conveyance
- Catholic controversiesabuse scandal, sexual abuse, pedophilia, cover-ups, coverups
- church courtsappeals court, appellate court, Rota
- rejectionsno, rejection letter, refusal, denial letter, decline
- court rulingsrulings, divorce decree, judgments, verdicts, judgment
annulmentsvalidations
Confirmations of correctness
ratifications · marriages · confirmations · weddings · unions
- marriage annulmentsLegal erasure of matrimony
- religious annulmentChurch ruling marriage invalid
- church annulmentReligious invalidation of matrimony
- annulment papersLegal marriage cancellation documents
- legal annulmentCourt-ordered marriage cancellation