Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place.

What is difference between annulment and divorce?

An annulment ends a marriage, but differs from divorce in important ways. ... If marriage is essentially a contract, the difference between an annulment and a divorce is the difference between declaring the contract null—because, say, it was signed under conditions of duress or fraud—and terminating it.

What is the real meaning of annulment?

Meaning of annulment in English

an official announcement that something such as a law, agreement, or marriage no longer exists, or the process of making this announcement: Judges only grant marriage annulments in exceptional circumstances.