You may be familiar with Britney Spears’s infamous 55-hour marriage that ended in annulment, but how was Britney Spears able to successfully obtain an annulment? Annulment versus divorce is a commonly misunderstood area of the law. For those that aren’t familiar with the legal process of a divorce, once a divorce is finalized, the marriage is legally dissolved, and both parties are considered single individuals. On the other hand, an annulment is a legal declaration that the marriage was never valid from the beginning. With an annulment, the marriage simply didn’t exist. In Colorado, an annulment is referred to as a “declaration of invalidity” of the marriage, but we will call it an annulment for the purpose of this blog.

GROUNDS

Grounds for Divorce: Many states, Colorado included, offer no-fault divorce, meaning that a spouse does not need to prove fault or wrongdoing on behalf of their spouse to end the marriage. Instead, to obtain a divorce, the Court must simply find that the marriage is irretrievably broken. Given that Colorado offers no-fault divorces, obtaining a divorce can often be the simpler method of ending a marriage.

Grounds for Annulment: Annulments have a different and more complex standard that must be met. Annulment is typically based on specific grounds that render the marriage void or voidable. A void marriage is considered legally invalid from the beginning because it was entered into illegally. A voidable marriage is a marriage that is considered legally valid unless one of the parties involved takes legal action to have it declared void under certain circumstances. Grounds for annulment in Colorado are as follows under Colorado Revised Statute § 14-10-111(1):

Voidable Marriages:

·      Consent: A marriage could be annulled if a party lacked capacity to consent to the marriage at the time the marriage ceremony occurred, either because of mental incapacity or because of the influence of alcohol, drugs, or other incapacitating substances;

·      Consummation: A party lacked the physical capacity to consummate the marriage by sexual intercourse and the other party did not know of the inability at the time of the marriage;

·      Age: A party was under the age as provided by law and did not have the consent of his parents, guardian, or judicial approval (as provided by law) to enter into the marriage;

·      Fraud: One party entered into the marriage in reliance upon a fraudulent act or representation of the other party, and the fraudulent act or representation goes to the “essence” of the marriage;

·      Duress: One or both parties entered into the marriage under duress exercised by the other party of a third party;

·      Jest or Dare: One or both parties entered into the marriage as a jest (joke) or dare.

 Void (Illegal) Marriages:

·      A marriage entered into prior to the dissolution of an earlier marriage of one of the spouses;

·      A marriage between an ancestor and a descendant or between a brother and a sister, whether the relationship is by the half of the whole blood;

·      A marriage between an uncle and a niece or between and aunt and a nephew, whether the relationship is by the half of the whole blood, except as to marriage permitted by the established customs of aboriginal cultures;

·      A marriage which was void by the law of the place where such marriage occurred.

The short duration of the marriage was not the sole reason Britney Spears was able to get her marriage annulled. She had to have additional grounds to do so. While the specific grounds for obtaining an annulment vary by state, it’s likely that Britney Spears was able to obtain an annulment on one of the grounds set forth in the “Voidable Marriages” section above.

TIMING AND INITIATION OF CASE

The timing of a divorce and annulment tend to be different. Divorces can be sought at any point during the marriage and initiated by filing a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. While an annulment can be sought by filing a Petition for Declaration of Invalidity of Marriage, annulments are usually sought early in the marriage upon the discovery of one of the grounds or issues noted above. In fact, there are specific deadlines that must be met to seek an annulment under C.R.S. § 14-10-111(2):

Voidable Marriages:

·      The aggrieved spouse must initiate an annulment within 6 months of obtaining the knowledge that their marriage was entered into based on lack of capacity to consent (either because of mental incapacity or the influence of alcohol, drugs, or other incapacitating substances), fraud, duress, or a jest/dare.

·      A spouse must initiate an annulment within one year of learning of the lack of physical capacity of the other spouse to consummate the marriage.

·      For annulments with a spouse that was underage at the time the marriage occurred, the underage spouse or his/her parent or guardian must initiate an annulment within 24 months of the date the marriage was entered into.

Void Marriages:  

Under C.R.S. § 14-10-111(3), an annulment based on the grounds set forth under “Void Marriages” can be sought by either party, by the legal spouse in the case of a bigamous, polygamous, or incestuous marriage, by the appropriate state official, by a child of either party at any time prior to the death of either party, or prior to the final settlement/closing of the estate of either party or prior to six months after an estate is closed.

If the marriage occurred in Colorado, an annulment can be initiated at any point during the time periods set forth above. If the marriage was entered into outside of Colorado, at least one of the spouses must have been a Colorado resident for 30 days prior to the commencement of the annulment proceedings. This standard is different from that required for a divorce. To initiate a divorce in Colorado, one spouse must be domiciled or a resident of Colorado for at least 91 days prior to commencing the divorce.

CHILDREN, PROPERTY, AND FINANCIAL MATTERS:

When going through a divorce, the court can enter orders related to child custody/decision-making, parenting time, child support, spousal maintenance (alimony), and property division. However, if an annulment declares that the marriage is void and therefore did not occur, issues related to children and property may still need to be resolved, especially if the parties’ acquired assets or had children during the purported marriage. With an annulment, the Colorado courts are still able to make decisions and enter orders regarding these issues. Although, personal jurisdiction over the parties will be necessary for the court to do so, which is a topic we will discuss in a future blog.



When making decisions regarding the allocation of parenting time and decision-making, the court is going to consider the best interests of the children as set forth in C.R.S. § 14-10-124(1.5)(a) and (b), regardless of whether it’s a divorce or an annulment. In either case, the Court will also apply the child support standards set forth in C.R.S. § 14-10-115. While a Court will address property division and spousal maintenance in a manner that is fair and equitable and without considering fault, there are certain circumstances in annulment cases where a court may decline to award spousal maintenance or an equitable division of marriage property, such as in cases where fraud has occurred. This is different from a divorce where the court does not consider fault and instead focuses primarily on an equitable and fair division. However, given that these issues are addressed in both annulment and divorce cases, an annulment could take the same amount of time to finalize as a divorce would, meaning that receiving an annulment as quickly as Britney Spears should not be expected.  

Given the complex nature of annulments and the difficulty that can come with proving that grounds exist for the Court to annul a marriage, annulments (a/k/a declarations of invalidity) aren’t common. However, if you are considering a declaration of invalidity or divorce in Colorado, it is advisable to consult with a family law attorney who can provide guidance based on your specific situation. Contact the attorneys at Opfer | Campbell | Beck P.C. for a free 60-minute consultation at (303) 791-0995.