Pennsylvania Divorce Guide

Annulment

Like other states, state laws allow for void and voidable marriages to be annuled when they qualify. Marriages are void and qualify if one of the parties was already married to a third person, they were too closely related, some mental incapacity existed, or the parties were below 18 years of age. Marriages are generally voidable if any of the following conditions were present:

• under 16 years of age at the time of marriage
• either party was intoxicated and one of you initiated the petition within 60 days of the marriage
• impotency
• fraud
• duress, coercion or force were used to secure the marriage
• consanguinity – marrying mother, father, sister, brother, first cousins, etc.

When one or both parties have married while below the age of consent (age 18), and they continue to cohabitate after both have reached age 18, they generally lose their right to seek an annulment based on being underage.

[Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes – Title 23 – Sections: 4322]