Annulments When Your Marriage is Based on Fraud

What happens if you get married to somebody but then find out that they have misrepresented information and you are a victim of fraud – must you remain in the marriage? In many states, you do not have to present a reason for divorce, but cases of fraud in divorce are especially serious and, as a result, you may be able to receive a divorce or an annulment.

Fraud in Divorce and Its Negative Impact

Cases of fraud in marriage occur when one spouse grossly misrepresented issues on an important level, to the extent that the other spouse would not have married them if they knew the truth. It is essentially lying to your spouse. An example of this is a husband who lies and says that he was never married and has no children, but later down the line the wife finds out that her husband was, indeed, married before and has four children with the ex-wife. If the wife can show that she did not know about these facts and that she would not have married him if she had known the truth, she can prove the grounds of fraud.

Annulments are quite rare, as you probably already know, and are not a concept that is taken lightly in the eyes of the court. As many annulments are not granted per year, it is safe to say that the route of divorce is more common. However, fraud is indeed one of the grounds to receiving an annulment, so the situation is not impossible. In some cases, the courts will not allow for an annulment based on fraud if they believe that the victim was willfully blind when the signs of fraud were in front of them, or discovered the fraud and waited too long to apply for an annulment.

If you believe that fraud has a negative affect on your marriage, then you may qualify for an annulment. The misrepresentation must relate to an essential aspect of your marriage, so make sure that you have supporting evidence before following through with your case. Call us today for more information on how we can help you.