When people get engaged and are all giddy with the pre-marriage planning, they rarely consider the possibility of divorce. But perhaps you are now looking at the legal options for ending your marriage in Connecticut. Or maybe you're wondering if your marriage was legal to begin with. States generally have strict rules that cover who can get married and how marriages can be dissolved. This is a brief summary of annulment and prohibited marriages in Connecticut.
Annulments and Prohibited Marriage Laws
State prohibited marriage laws regulate the institution of marriage, which includes annulment and certain restrictions on who may get married. Annulment is the legal process of invalidating a marriage, a different process than divorce, which may be sought in Connecticut if there is a previously un-dissolved marriage or for other reasons. Connecticut annulment and prohibited marriage laws also ban marriage between ancestors or descendants, brother and sister, aunt and nephew, uncle and niece, and first cousins.
Annulment Laws in Connecticut
The following chart highlights the main provisions of Connecticut's Family Law Code where statutes governing annulment and prohibited marriage laws can be found. See FindLaw's Marriage Law Overview section for additional articles and resources.
| Code Sections | 46b-40, 60; 46b-21 |
| Grounds for Annulment | Lack of mutual consent (460 A.2d 945); physical incapacity to consummate (11 Conn. Sup. 361); bigamous marriage is a nullity (18 Conn. Sup. 472) |
| Time Limits for Obtaining Annulment | - |
| Legitimacy of Children | Children of void marriage are legitimate |
| Prohibited Marriages | No man may marry his mother, grandmother, daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt niece, stepmother, or stepdaughter, nor a woman her father, grandfather son, grandson, brother, uncle, nephew, stepfather, or stepson. |
Same-Sex Marriage in Connecticut
In Connecticut, same-sex marriages have been permitted since 2008. The Supreme Court of Connecticut ruled that under the Connecticut State Constitution's equal protection guarantees the same laws that govern traditional marriages applied to same-sex couples. This decision made Connecticut the third state at the time to issue marriage licenses to same-sex partners who wished to marry. The U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges applied similar theories to find that denial of same-sex marriages in any state constitutes a violation of of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection clause.
Related Resources for Connecticut Annulment and Prohibited Marriage Laws
Ending a marriage can be a difficult decision, especially if you are wondering if your marriage was legal to begin with. You can find more introductory information about this topic by visiting FindLaw's sections on annulment and divorce. If you would like legal assistance with your case, you can contact an experienced Connecticut divorce attorney in your area to schedule a consultation.
