• The Utah provisions for annulment of a marriage are reasonably straightforward.Justice image by MVit from Fotolia.com
  
  An annulment is a legal judgment stating that the prior marriage never existed, unlike a divorce which legally ends a marriage and returns both parties to single status. Annulment of marriage is granted when the marriage in question is between prohibited parties. Utah's annulment laws have provisions for several types of prohibited marriage. The annulment laws for the State of Utah are built on American common law, not the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
  
  

Consanguinity and Annulment

• The first category of causes for annulments in the state of Utah is consanguinity. The legal definition of consanguinity is "descended from the same ancestor." Marriages that qualify for annulment in Utah include those between a niece and uncle, an aunt and nephew, direct descendants (parent and child or grandparent and grandchild), siblings (whether by full blood or by half) or first cousins. The prohibition on marriage between first cousins has additional stipulations that permit some older marriages to remain valid and on the books.
  
  

Other Grounds for Annulment In Utah

• The other grounds for annulment in Utah's state laws relate to the circumstances of the marriage rather than the degree of kinship between the participants. These include bigamy (being married to more than one person at a time), and marriage to someone who is younger than the legal age of consent for marriage in Utah. The legal age of marriage consent in Utah is 16 with permission from the parent or guardian or 18 without permission. Prior to early 1999 the legal ages were 14 with the consent of a parent and 16 without. The marriage being annulled has to have violated the minimum age requirements at the time it was performed. Utah also considers marriage between people of the same sex to be legal grounds for annulment, and marriages that were formed under false pretenses (such as concealing an inability to have children) or which were never consummated to be valid causes for annulment.
  
  

Legal Aftermath of Utah Annulments

• Legally speaking, an annulled marriage never took place and both parties are eligible to marry again immediately. There is no need to wait for a divorce decree to become final. Annulments are most commonly used to terminate marriages of extremely short durations. When an annulment happens to a longstanding marriage, Utah's general provisions on child visitation rights and distribution of common property take effect.