ANNULMENT

annulment (<<schwa>>-n<<schwa>>l-m<<schwa>>nt), n.1. The act of nullifying or making

void;  VOIDANCE.  2.  A  judicial  or  ecclesiastical  declaration  that  a  marriage  is  void.  •  An

annulment  establishes  that  the  marital  status  never  existed.  So  annulment  and  dissolution  of

marriage (or divorce) are fundamentally different: an annulment renders a marriage void from the

beginning, while dissolution of marriage terminates the marriage as of the date of the judgment of

dissolution. Although a marriage terminated by annulment is considered never to have occurred, in

most  states  today  a  child  born  during  the  marriage  is  not  considered  illegitimate  after  the

annulment.  Cf.  DI-VORCE.  [Cases:  Marriage    56.  C.J.S.  Marriage  §  63.]  3.  A  rescission.  See

RESCIND(3). — annul (<<schwa>>-n<<schwa>>l), vb. [Blacks Law 8th]