Colorado Divorce Guide

Annulment

A petition for an annulment must be treated in the same fashion as with a divorce. If the Petition for Divorce or Marriage Annulment is contested, in other words the person responding to the petition (the defendant) challenges material information in the petition by filing an answer, the matter will automatically be scheduled for a hearing. If the person responding to the petition does not file an answer within 20 days of receiving either the Petition for Divorce or Marital Annulment, or if that person files an answer agreeing with the petition for a divorce, the petition is uncontested.

If the petition is uncontested, the Petitioner ( the person filing the petition), can choose what type of divorce proceeding he/she would like to have. The Petitioner may request that the Court decide the Petition for Divorce or Marital Annulment based solely on the papers that are filed by both sides, without the parties appearing in Court for a hearing; OR The Petitioner may choose to have the Court decide the Petition for Divorce/Annulment after holding a hearing which the Petitioner must attend and the Respondent may attend.
Grounds for a Colorado marriage annulment include:

• Fraud or Duress – If any force, pressure or duress was used to compel you to marry, you may petition the court for an annulment
• Underage Marriage – A marriage where one or both parties were under 16 years old qualifies as an annulment ground
• Bigamy – Where a person is already married and enters into another marriage with someone else. Colorado annulment laws declare bigamy as a legal ground for annulment
• Misrepresentation – The marriage took place under false pretenses permits a party to claim annulment according to the Colorado annulment laws
• Incest or Consanguinity – A marriage will receive an annulment if a party married a relative too closely related by blood
• Physical or Mental Incapacity – If it were present at the marriage and it continues, an annulment may be granted, and
• Lack of Consent – Where a party was intellectually or emotionally incapable of understanding their actions is a legitimate annulment ground

[Colorado Statutes – Article 10 – Sections: 14-10-111]