How Do I Get a Marriage Annulled in Washington?

People call it an annulment. Washington law calls it a declaration of invalidity, and it is a real court case, not a quick administrative fix. Here is how it actually works. The Law Office of Chad Foster helps Snohomish County clients with divorce and family-law matters. For a focused explanation, read What Are the Legal Requirements to Get Married in Washington.

In Washington, you get a marriage "annulled" by petitioning the superior court for a declaration concerning the validity of your marriage under RCW 26.09.040. The court can declare the marriage invalid only on specific grounds, such as underage parties, bigamy, close kinship, lack of capacity, or consent obtained by fraud, force, or duress. If the court grants the declaration, the marriage is treated as invalid from the day it began, but the court still divides property, can order support, and enters a parenting plan for any children, much as it would in a divorce.

Annulment, Divorce, and the Difference That Matters

A divorce, called dissolution in Washington, ends a valid marriage. A declaration of invalidity says the marriage was never valid in the first place. That distinction matters to some people for religious reasons, to others because of how the marriage came about, and occasionally because rights turn on whether a marriage existed at all. For related guidance, see Can a Prenup Be Modified After Marriage.

What a declaration of invalidity is not: a shortcut. There is no rule that a very short marriage qualifies. Regret, incompatibility, or discovering your spouse is not who you hoped they would be, in the ordinary sense, are grounds for dissolution, not invalidity. The grounds for invalidity are narrow and specific, and if you cannot prove one, the court will deny the declaration even if both spouses want out. For related guidance, see Living Together Before Marriage.

The Grounds Under RCW 26.09.040

The court may declare a marriage invalid only for a cause that existed when the marriage began. The statute's grounds fall into two groups.

The first group tracks Washington's void marriage rules: a party was underage, a party was already married to or in a state registered domestic partnership with someone else, or the parties are closer kin than the law allows. These overlap with the prohibitions in RCW 26.04.020, covered in detail in which marriages are void or prohibited in Washington.

The second group involves defective consent: a party lacked capacity to consent because of mental incapacity or the influence of alcohol or other incapacitating substances, a party was induced to marry by force or duress, or the marriage rested on fraud involving the essentials of the marriage. Washington courts read "essentials" narrowly. Lying about wealth, past relationships, or personality is generally not enough; the classic examples involve deception going to the marital relationship itself. These consent-based grounds echo the voidable marriage statute, RCW 26.04.130, which allows only the wronged spouse to complain.

Timing and conduct matter too. If the parties voluntarily lived together as spouses after reaching the age of consent, after regaining capacity to consent, or after the force or duress stopped or the fraud was discovered, the statute treats the marriage as ratified and the court will not declare it invalid. Continuing the marriage once you know the truth ratifies it.

Who Can File, and Where

Under RCW 26.09.040, either or both parties to the marriage may petition on any of the grounds above, and so may the guardian of a spouse who has been found incompetent. When the claim is that a party was already married to or in a domestic partnership with someone else, other affected people, such as the earlier spouse or a child of either party, can also seek a determination of validity. The statute requires that both parties still be living and that at least one of them live in Washington or be stationed here in the armed services. The petition is filed in superior court, and for couples in this area that means the Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, using largely the same procedures as a dissolution case.

The court decides validity as of the date the marriage began. If it finds the marriage valid, it says so, and that determination is complete for all purposes. If it finds the marriage invalid, it enters the declaration and moves on to the practical questions.

Property, Support, and Children After a Declaration of Invalidity

Here is what surprises most people: an invalid marriage does not mean each person simply walks away with whatever is in their name. RCW 26.09.040(3) gives the court the same jurisdiction it has in a dissolution to award maintenance, divide the parties' property, and enter a parenting plan for minor children. A spouse who spent fifteen years relying on what turned out to be a bigamous marriage is not left with nothing.

Children are fully protected. Under RCW 26.09.040(5), any child born or conceived during a marriage of record is legitimate regardless of the declaration. The court enters a parenting plan and child support order the same way it would in any divorce, and everything in the overview of what a parenting plan is in Washington applies with equal force.

Invalidity, Dissolution, or Both: Choosing the Right Vehicle

Petitioners rarely have to gamble everything on the invalidity grounds. Washington procedure allows a case to be framed so that if the court finds the marriage valid, the dissolution can proceed in the same action; the mandatory petition form, FL Divorce 205, builds in exactly that alternative request. That is usually the sensible structure: you present the invalidity grounds, and the marriage ends either way. The choice of emphasis still matters. A declaration of invalidity can carry religious significance, can matter to immigration and benefits questions where the existence of the marriage itself is at issue, and can affect how the equities feel to a court dividing property after a short, fraud-induced union. Dissolution, by contrast, asks nothing about the marriage's origins and requires only that it be irretrievably broken. Timing considerations differ too: ratification can quietly close the invalidity door while the dissolution door stays open forever. An hour with counsel at the start, mapping grounds, ratification facts, and what you actually need from the outcome, usually settles the vehicle question quickly.

Annulment Questions Usually Hide Bigger Ones

In practice, a consultation about annulment is rarely just about annulment. It is about whether a prior divorce was ever finalized, whether an overseas marriage counts, whether a new spouse's fraud can be undone, or whether a vulnerable parent was maneuvered into a marriage late in life. Each of those questions branches into property rights, inheritance, and sometimes protection concerns, and the right first move depends on facts a short statute cannot capture.

If you think your marriage may be invalid, or someone is claiming a marriage involving you or a family member never counted, the Law Office of Chad Foster can evaluate the grounds, the deadlines that come from ratification, and the property stakes in one conversation. Call 425.785.8679 to talk it through with a Snohomish County family law attorney.