Can a marriage be annulled if the wife is pregnant?
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Can a marriage be annulled if the wife is pregnant?
My son married his pregnant girlfriend, by proxy, in TX; he is in the Air Force. Now he has doubts about the paternity of the baby. He will be stationed in S.C. in July to where she is allowed to move with him because he will be finished with tech school. She has just told him she does not love him and refuses to move with him. Instread she is going to stay in TN with her parents. They were married 4 1/2 months ago and have not consummated the marriage (have not had sex since before the marriage) because she would not.
Asked on April 18, 2011 under Family Law, Tennessee
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
Since neither party has established residency in other states, TX law will prevail. According to state annulment laws, you can file for annulment under the following voidable grounds:
- Marriage Under the Age of 14
- Marriage Under the Age of 18
- Under Influence of Alcohol or Drugs
- Impotency
- Fraud & Duress
- Mental Incapacity
- Concealed divorce which occurred within 30 days preceding marriage;
- Marriage took place within 72 hours after marriage license;
- Previous marriage undissolved (most recent marriage presumed valid until valid prior marriage proven).
There is no ground that the marriage be unconsummated. Additionally, based on your facts, it's not clear if there was any fraud involved. To claim fraud as a grounds for annulment your partner must have misrepresented themselves in order to get you to marry them; for example she was pregnant with his child when in reality she was not. However, this requirement can be harder to prove then some other requirements for an annulment. Bottom line, the fact is that whether or not an annulment is possible, your son could still file for divorce. At this point he should contact a divorce attorney directly.
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