With an annulment does the defendant have to sign a waiver as with a divorce?
Full Question:
Answer:
The procedural rules regarding waiver and service of process are the same whether the case is an action for an annulment or divorce. The length of the process depends on the docket of the court.
Divorce is the ending of a marriage ordered by a court. Annulment establishes that your marital status never existed. The court will declare that you were never married. The court may look to, but is not;limited to, the legitimacy of children and the preservation of the sanctity of marriage. Because of these considerations a court will look to granting a divorce instead of an annulment.
In New Jersey, there are two types of annulment. In the first type the marriage is declared void ab initio, or from its inception, as though it had never existed. You do not legally have to go to court to have the marriage declared void ab initio, although it's a good idea to do so. In the case of an annulment, a marriage must be "totally void" in order for it to be considered annulled.
There are two characteristics of a "totally void" marriage:
1. The marriage posses some defect rendering it susceptible to collateral attack (some evidence that shows the marriage never happened or should have never happened) even after the death of one or both spouses; and
2. No direct step or proceeding to annul is necessary (although the latter may be desirable).One such defect is if your spouse was formally married to someone else and still has not divorced that person. Your marriage to this spouse is considered totally void. Another defective marriage is one done between "blood" relatives.
The second type of annulment is called voidable. A voidable marriage can only be annulled by going to court and having it declared void. Annulment is available in New Jersey, and in some cases it can be obtained under the name of a divorce. Along with obtaining an annulment for bigamy and for lack of consensual age, a marriage may be declared void if the parties did not really intend to marry or if they are incapacitated, as in insanity, intoxication, fraud, and duress.
