Can You Annul A Marriage In Australia?

Can You Annul A Marriage In Australia?

Are you able to annul a wedding in Australia? Sure you’ll be able to annul a wedding in Australia, nevertheless an annulment is an American time period, there may be an Australian equal that declares a wedding null and void.

Usually, when individuals get married in haste or discover out their new partner has a hidden previous, they strategy their lawyer to ask if they’ll get an annulment in Australia.

To have a wedding declared void in Australia, an individual should apply for a ‘decree of nullity of marriage’.

If you wish to annul a wedding in Australia, you will have to fulfill strict standards in order that the courts can award an annulment.

In any other case, chances are you’ll need to think about getting a divorce.

 

Getting a Divorce in Australia

Getting a divorce in Australia is a fairly easy matter; nevertheless, a number of necessities have to be met earlier than the court will grant a divorce.

Because the introduction of the no-fault divorce precept in 1975, the one grounds for divorce in Australia is that the wedding has damaged down irretrievably.

To show this, {couples} have to be separated for not less than 12 months. If the couple will get again collectively for 3 months or longer throughout this time, the 12 months begins once more.

If there are children below the age of 18 concerned within the divorce proceedings, a court is not going to grant a divorce till they’re glad that acceptable preparations have been made to take care of the children’s wellbeing.

Whereas there isn’t a such legislation that grants annulment in Australia, events to a wedding can apply to have the court grant a decree of nullity.

 

What’s a Decree of Nullity?

A decree of nullity is an order from the family court that states that there isn’t a authorized marriage between two individuals, even when a wedding ceremony has taken place. It’s the Australian equal of getting an annulment.

The court will solely grant a decree of nullity in restricted circumstances, together with:

• When one of many events was already married to anyone else on the time the brand new marriage came about
• The individuals concerned are in a prohibited relationship. This normally refers to {couples} who’re associated by blood.
• The events concerned didn’t comply with the suitable legal guidelines relevant to the place the place they have been married.
• Both individual was not of authorized age.
• Both celebration didn’t give their true consent to the wedding as a result of:
• Consent was obtained by fraud
• One individual was mistaken as to the identification of their partner or the character of the wedding ceremony.
• A celebration was mentally incapable of understanding the implications of the wedding ceremony.

The household court is not going to declare a wedding to be void if the next causes are given:

• The wedding has not been consummated.
• The events concerned have by no means lived collectively.
• There’s an occasion of household violence; or
• There are compatibility points.

With regard to consent, the court will assess whether or not the events consent was gained by duress or fraud, and if that’s the case, whether or not it affected their capability to really perceive the character of the wedding ceremony.

 

Are you able to annul a wedding in Australia if there’s a misrepresentation?

Duress in such instances normally includes threats of power or precise power. Fraud should contain one celebration misrepresenting their true identification or the character of the wedding ceremony itself.

If an individual has misrepresented their motives for marrying the opposite individual, this can usually not be sufficient to have the wedding declared void. This was the case in Hosking v Hosking.

 

Hosking v Hosking

Within the case of Hosking v Hosking, 46-year-old Ronald George Hosking was curious and requested the court, “are you able to annul a wedding in Australia?” and utilized to the court for a decree of nullity in relation to his marriage to Jie Hu Hosking in Broadbeach, Queensland on 24 November 1993.

Ronald is an Australian citizen, whereas Jie Hu, although residing in Sydney on the time they met, was born in Beijing and was not an Australian citizen on the time of their nuptials.

Ronald claimed that he believed the wedding was actual and that he and Jie Hu would stay collectively as man and spouse after their wedding ceremony. Their marriage was by no means consummated, and Ronald then filed for a decree of nullity based mostly on the grounds that his consent to marry was obtained by fraud.

Ronald’s utility claimed that ‘The respondent fraudulently obtained the applicant’s consent to marriage on the idea that the respondent and the applicant reside or act as husband and spouse.’

Whereas Jie Hu did stay in Ronald’s house from November till December 1993, their relationship was by no means romantic, and on shifting out, Jie Hu moved in with a brand new defacto accomplice.

Ronald’s utility to have the wedding declared null and void hinged on the truth that:

‘The respondent married the applicant with the intention to stay in Australia, on the idea that the respondent’s visa for residency in Australia is because of expire within the close to future and on the first alternative accessible the respondent left the applicant and shortly thereafter took up in a de facto relationship. The respondent solely entered into the purported ceremony of marriage in an try and receive everlasting residency in Australia.’

The choose overseeing the case finally discovered the appliance to fail, because the query of fraud concerning the identification of the opposite celebration or the ceremony itself was not adequately addressed within the utility.

This case demonstrates the difficulties confronted by Australians trying to have their marriages deemed null and void by the household court system.

Most often, slightly than getting an ‘annulment’ in Australia, individuals will find yourself having to undergo the normal strategy of gaining a divorce.