Can a marriage be annulled?
The Civil Code allows a marriage to be annulled on two grounds: where one party was coerced into it, and where one party failed to disclose a serious illness before the registration. The application must be made to a people's court within one year, running from the end of the coercion, from the restoration of personal liberty or from the discovery of the illness, and a marriage registration office has no power to annul a marriage at all. An annulled marriage has no legal effect from the outset, and the party without fault may claim damages.
01 The grounds for annulment
01
A marriage entered into under coercion may be annulled at the request of the coerced party
The Civil Code provides that natural persons enjoy freedom of marriage, that marriage must be entirely voluntary on both sides and that no organisation or individual may coerce or interfere with either party. A marriage concluded under coercion runs directly against the will of the person concerned, and the coerced party is entitled to ask that a marriage which does not express his true intention be annulled.
Coercion here means conduct by which a person threatens to cause harm to the life, health, reputation or property of the other party or of his close relatives, so forcing the other party to marry against his true wishes. The person applying the coercion need not be one of the parties to the marriage; a third party may do so, most commonly the parents or close relatives of the coerced party or of the other party.
02
A party with a serious illness did not disclose it truthfully before the marriage was registered
Where one party has a serious illness, the other party's decision to marry may not be a true and complete expression of intention. Some serious illnesses, infectious diseases among them, do expose the spouse and other family members to a risk to their health. Some are hereditary: if the party affected says nothing, the health of later generations suffers, family life carries a heavy financial burden, and harmony may break down.
Some serious illnesses require long-term treatment, or eventually leave the party affected unable to look after himself, so that the other party must care for him closely, adding to the financial and emotional strain on both and, over time, readily producing discord or even the breakdown of the marriage. A serious illness is therefore basic information to which the other party is entitled, since it may well decide whether he is willing to marry at all.
02 The time limit for annulment
An application to annul a marriage entered into under coercion must be made within one year from the date the coercion ended; where personal liberty was unlawfully restricted, within one year from the date it was restored. If the coerced party does not apply within that year, the right to apply is lost.
Where a serious illness was not disclosed, the party kept in ignorance must apply to the court within one year from the date he knew or ought to have known of the ground for annulment.
An application to have a marriage declared void may only be made to a people's court. A marriage registration office, being an administrative body that supervises and administers marriage matters, may not annul a marriage of its own motion or on application, and has no power to rule on the validity of a marriage.
03 The consequences of annulment
The marriage has no effect from the outset, and the party without fault may claim damages.
An annulled marriage has no binding legal force from the beginning: the parties do not have the rights and duties of husband and wife that arise from a lawful marriage, the provisions of law on the personal relations between spouses do not apply, and no affinity arises between one party and the blood relatives of the other and their spouses. Nor may the two parties inherit from each other as spouses in the first order of statutory heirs.
The party without fault is entitled to claim damages. The coerced party, or the party deceived, may claim damages from the other where he is himself without fault.
The text of the provisions
Civil Code
Article 1052 Where a marriage is entered into under coercion, the coerced party may apply to a people's court to annul the marriage.
An application to annul the marriage shall be made within one year from the date the coercion ended.
Where a party's personal liberty has been unlawfully restricted, the application shall be made within one year from the date liberty is restored.
Article 1053 Where one party suffers from a serious illness, he shall tell the other truthfully before the marriage is registered; where he does not, the other party may apply to a people's court to annul the marriage.
The application shall be made within one year from the date the other party knew or ought to have known of the ground for annulment.
Article 1054 A void or annulled marriage has no binding legal force from the outset, and the parties do not have the rights and duties of husband and wife. Property acquired while they lived together is dealt with by agreement between them; failing agreement, the people's court shall decide in accordance with the principle of favouring the party without fault. In dealing with property in a marriage void by reason of bigamy, the property rights of the party to the lawful marriage shall not be infringed. Children born to the parties are governed by the provisions of this Law on parents and children.
Where a marriage is void or annulled, the party without fault is entitled to claim damages.