Annulment in Montana: How Does it Work?
By: Emma Buescher and Katie Thomas
Deciding whether to get married is totally personal. “To each their own,” right? Leading up to – or even during a marriage proposal – we seldom consider any likelihood that the marriage might need to end at some point down the road through divorce or legal separation. Some situations even call for annulment, as opposed to dissolution or divorce. But the successful annulment case, or declaration of an invalid marriage, is more rare than one might think.
Only a few specific circumstances qualify for annulment, or Declaration of Invalidity, under Montana law. The legal standard for annulment is relatively high, so the court seldom grants annulments. But what about the situation where your spouse turns out to be completely different than you thought? What if your spouse suffers from a mental health disorder, fatal disease, or addiction he or she intentionally hid from you and it is changing your marriage for the worse? What if your spouse is a fraud?
How does fraud factor into annulments?
The answer to the annulment question in fraud scenarios is relatively straightforward, as several Montana Supreme Court decisions have shown. The general consensus is that the marrying parties have the burden of informing themselves before entering a marriage.
For example, in Baird v. Baird, the Montana Supreme Court held, in part: “Representation by a prospective husband that he was an honest, honorable man, that he loved his wife and wanted her to be his wife, that he wanted to make a home for her and lead a happy, normal married life, did not go to the essence of the marriage contract and did not constitute actionable fraud. Baird v. Baird, 232 P.2d 348 (Mont. 1951).”
An appeals court in California in the 9th Circuit held in 1993 that: “…[h]usband's concealment of his drinking problem and that he would be unkempt after the marriage and not get a job did not constitute fraud warranting annulment.”Id. In other words, it is not easy to un-do a marriage with annulment once you enter a marriage and in most cases, it is not possible. In some scenarios, however, a judge will declare a marriage invalid.
What scenarios qualify for an annulment in Montana?
For annulment in Montana, Montana Code Annotated §40-1-402 states at least one if following must exist:
One of you lacked the capacity to consent (due to the influence of alcohol or drugs, lack of mental consciousness, or being held hostage),
The marriage was never consummated,
One of you is underage (16 or younger) and doesn’t have parental consent, or
One of you is already married (bigamy).
Effectively, to have a marriage annulled in Montana, one must prove that it was not legally valid from the beginning because one person did not consent, one person was underage, or one person is still married to someone else.
So if you want out of your marriage because your spouse is an alcoholic, a compulsive cheater, or shockingly underemployed, don’t bother paying the emotional price to try to have your marriage annulled. Understandably, many people may feel cheated out of a real marriage, but without meeting Montana’s specific qualifications for annulment, divorce is the best option.
And if you’re trying to decide whether to get married, think about the situation above, where you might not be able to get out. To consider whether divorce or legal separation is better than annulment, consider the fact that oftentimes a dissolution action is less expensive, quicker, and less emotionally difficult because an annulment action in most situations is not supported by the legal standard in Montana.
Considering an annulment in Montana?
If you need help, contact Bozeman, MT attorney Emma Buescher, Esq., who specializes in divorce, separation, and child custody cases. Emma accepts family law clients throughout Montana.