An annulment in Nevada is a district court judgment declaring that a marriage was never legally valid — unlike a divorce, which ends a valid marriage. Nevada law allows annulment only on specific grounds: some marriages are automatically void (close blood relation or bigamy under NRS 125.290), while others are voidable for reasons listed in NRS 125.320 through 125.350, such as a minor’s missing parental consent, want of understanding, or fraud. The case starts with a complaint filed in district court, and if the marriage took place in Nevada, no residency period is required.

How is an annulment different from a divorce?

A divorce dissolves a marriage that legally existed; an annulment declares that the marriage was invalid from the start. Because divorce and annulment answer different questions, they have different requirements. Nevada is a no-fault divorce state — incompatibility is enough, as explained in whether Nevada is a no-fault divorce state — but an annulment always requires proof of a specific legal ground. NRS 125.390 describes the annulment action’s purpose: in addition to annulling or declaring the marriage contract void, the court “shall regulate and determine the status of the parties.”

The two claims are not mutually exclusive in one respect: NRS 125.380 expressly allows a cause of action for annulment to be pleaded in the same complaint as a cause of action for divorce.

Which marriages are void without any court order?

NRS 125.290 makes two kinds of marriages void from the outset, “without any decree of divorce or annulment or other legal proceedings”:

  • Marriages prohibited by law because of consanguinity (close blood relation) between the parties; and
  • Marriages in which either party had a living spouse at the time — that is, bigamous marriages solemnized in Nevada.

Even though these marriages are void automatically, people in this situation still commonly obtain a court judgment to create a clear record. The statute also notes that a void marriage does not bar prosecution for the crime of bigamy.

What makes a marriage voidable in Nevada?

NRS 125.300 provides that a marriage may be annulled for any of the causes in NRS 125.320 to 125.350. Each ground comes with its own conditions and limits:

  • Lack of required consent for a minor (NRS 125.320). If a party needed the consent of a parent, guardian or district court to marry and that consent was never obtained, the marriage can be annulled on the application of the person who married without consent. There is a deadline: the case must be brought within one year after that person turns 18, and the ground is lost if the person freely lives with the other party as a married couple after turning 18.
  • Want of understanding (NRS 125.330). A marriage is voidable if either party was “incapable of assenting” for want of understanding — for example, a person who lacked the mental capacity to agree to marry. The statute bars annulment on this ground if the person, after being “restored to a sound mind,” freely cohabited with the other party as a married couple.
  • Fraud (NRS 125.340). If one party’s consent to marry was obtained by fraud and the fraud is proved, the marriage is voidable. But no marriage may be annulled for fraud if the parties voluntarily lived together as a married couple after the defrauded party learned of the fraud.
  • Contract-law grounds (NRS 125.350). A marriage may be annulled “for any cause which is a ground for annulling or declaring void a contract in a court of equity.” Because marriage is legally a contract, defects that would undo an ordinary contract can support an annulment.

Does someone have to live in Nevada to get an annulment?

It depends on where the wedding happened. Under NRS 125.360, a marriage that was “contracted, performed or entered into within the State of Nevada” may be annulled by complaint to any Nevada district court, with no residency requirement at all. That rule matters to the many couples who marry in Las Vegas but live elsewhere.

For a marriage performed outside Nevada, NRS 125.370 requires that at least one party have resided in the state for six weeks before the complaint is filed (or that the case be filed in the county where the defendant lives or is found, or where the parties last lived together, per the statute’s terms). Nevada courts have no authority to annul an out-of-state marriage unless one party meets the six-week residence requirement. Divorce has its own, similar residency rule, covered in Nevada’s divorce residency requirement.

How does an annulment case actually proceed?

The statutes describe a civil lawsuit. The case begins with a complaint, made under oath, filed in district court (NRS 125.360–125.370). Chapter 125 proceedings generally follow the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure (NRS 125.090), so the other spouse must be served with the papers unless the parties file together — the mechanics are the same as serving divorce papers in Nevada. Nevada’s self-help centers publish annulment forms for both joint filings and one-party filings.

Annulment cases are not free of the issues that come up in divorce. If the couple has minor children living in Nevada, NRS 125.007 forbids the court from granting an annulment without first providing for the children’s care, support, education and maintenance. And NRS 125.150(3) contemplates that property questions can arise in annulment actions too — it allows postjudgment motions “in any action for divorce, annulment or separate maintenance” to address community property or liabilities omitted from the judgment through fraud or mistake.

What happens after an annulment is granted?

The judgment declares the marriage void and settles the parties’ status — legally, the parties are treated as never having been validly married, rather than as divorced. Court records of the case are handled the same way as other family law records, described in whether divorce records are public in Nevada.