Like a divorce, an annulment is a court procedure that ends a marriage. But an annulment treats the marriage as though it never happened, as opposed to dissolving it.

Minnesota law provides that a marriage may be annulled if one party was not able to give their voluntary consent to the marriage at the time of the marriage ceremony because:

• One party has a mental illness, insanity, mental incapacity and the other party did not know about the mental illness, insanity or mental incapacity at the time of the marriage ceremony; or
• One party was under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other “incapacitating” substance at the time of the marriage ceremony; or
• Consent was obtained by force or fraud.

A marriage may also be annullted if one party is not able to “consummate” the marriage with sexual intercourse and the other party did not know this at the time of the marriage ceremony or if one of the parties was under the legal age for marriage. The legal age for marriage in Minnesota is age 18, or age 16 or 17 only with the consent of the parents, a guardian, or the court and approval of the application for a marriage license by a Juvenile Court Judge.