Marriage Annulment Terms in South Carolina
Unlike a divorce, which ends a legal union, an annulment deems that the marriage never existed. In the eyes of the law and many churches, the spouses were never married. Similar to marriage and divorce, states regulate the conditions and requirements of annulments. In South Carolina, Title 20 of the legal code governs the state's laws on domestic relations, including annulments.
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Definition
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An annulment ends a voidable or void marriage. While seemingly valid on its face, South Carolina court can declare a voidable marriage invalid if the parties meet the necessary requirements in Title 20. In addition, parties can file for an annulment for a void marriage. Courts define a void marriage as illegal from the beginning, so it never could have existed. It is not always necessary to have a void marriage annulled, but you should go through the process just to be safe. South Carolina law provides voidable marriage conditions as well as a list of grounds for a void marriage under its "prohibited marriage" statute.
Voidable Marriages
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Some states allow non-residents to apply for annulments. In South Carolina, one spouse must be a resident of the state or both parties must currently live in South Carolina. In order to get an annulment for a valid marriage in South Carolina, a party must prove to the court that she and her spouse never had sex and did not live together as husband and wife. If you and your spouse cohabitated for even less than a day, an annulment is not an option for you under South Carolina law.
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Void or Prohibitive Marriages
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South Carolina provides four grounds for declaring a marriage void or prohibitive. The conditions are (1) one party being mentally incompetent, (2) parties being closely related, (3) bigamous marriages and (4) same sex marriages. Relationships included under the related parties reason include marriages between an ancestor and a descendant, a spouse of an ancestor or a descendant, an uncle and a niece, and an aunt and a nephew. For bigamous marriages, the court will declare them void unless the former spouse has been absent and not heard from for five years.
Children
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As with most states, South Carolina generally does not involve legitimacy of the children in the annulment proceeding. The state provides that legitimacy of children is not in question as long as the spouses entered the marriage in good faith. Courts follow this general rule when dealing with both singular and bigamous marriages.
Process
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While most think that an annulment will be faster and simpler than a divorce, this is not always true. In South Carolina, as with a divorce, the spouse requesting the annulment must file the appropriate documents with the office of the clerk of the court in the appropriate county. She must also serve the documents to her spouse. Service by publication may be an option. After a standard waiting period, the clerk will schedule a final hearing.
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