An annulment is a legal procedure that cancels, purely and simply, the marriage as if the union had never existed. You may wonder, “What are the implementation requirements for an annulment and what are the consequences?” Remember, this type of procedure is, however, quite rare, since the breaches of the conditions of the validity of the marriage must be serious and provide heavy consequences. This is, for example, the case when consent has been obtained under physical or moral violence (for example, with a case of a forced marriage). For example, further suitable circumstances for an annulment of a spousal relationship are: incest, as the law expressly forbids marriage between ascendants and descendants; the impuberty of a spouse; fraudulent marriages, for example: you thought you would marry a spouse who was never married, and you discover that your spouse is already married. As soon as the marriage is annulled, there is retroactivity, that is to say, that the nullity has consequences not only for the future but it also erases all the effects of the past as if the marriage had never existed. When it is pronounced, it cancels all the effects of the marriage. However, the children born of the marriage are legitimate and they are treated as children of a divorced marriage. For an annulment, a formal defect should have logically prevented the celebration of your marriage and yet you are married. In principle, the annulment of the marriage may be invoked at any time when it appears that a substantive or procedural condition (sanctioned by the nullity) has not been fulfilled at the time of the conclusion of the marriage except in the following situations: the spouse who has been misled may no longer be able to invoke the nullity of the marriage when the cohabitation of the spouses lasted during the 6 months following the discovery of the error. Remember, no one can enter a marriage before turning 18, with exceptions. The parent of one or more spouses, who happen to be under 18, can grant age exemptions for serious reasons. However, an annulment can no longer be requested in the State of New York if a period has elapsed since the spouse or both spouses reached the legal age of 18 years. However, an annulment provides that a person who has obtained US nationality by marriage on the basis of fraudulent facts presented in a corrupted manner or facts that were concealed, or on the basis of false statements or false or falsified documents which have been decisive for the granting of nationality may be deprived of US nationality. Therefore, a marriage annulled for fraud may be considered as a fraudulent means of obtaining US nationality, resulting in the loss of it. Nationality law expressly provides for the forfeiture of nationality following the annulment of the marriage which was the basis for obtaining US nationality. In the presence of a substantive fault, it is the law of one of the spouses sanctioning the substantive fault that will determine the person responsible for proving it. There is a limiting list of grounds for refusing to recognize a decision rendered by a judge. Remember, in the US, the only authority that can annul a marriage is a judge. However, the annulment of a marriage may in certain cases produce legal effects and, in particular, allow former spouses to liquidate their marital property and to share the marital property. Also, view this link for more data: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/marital_property