Nullity of marriage

A young woman in Thane discovers, six months after a wedding with photographs, a garlanded stage and two hundred guests, that her husband's first wife is alive and has never been divorced. Is she married? Another petitioner learns that her husband concealed a serious fact before the wedding and asks whether she must live with the consequences. The law separates marriages that never existed in law from marriages that exist until a court ends them. Which is which, and how is each pleaded?

In two minutes

A petition for nullity asks the court to declare a marriage void (s.11 HMA, for breach of conditions (i), (iv) or (v) of s.5) or to annul it as voidable (s.12 HMA, on grounds such as non-consummation due to impotence, unsound mind, force or fraud, or pregnancy by another); the two differ in who may petition, what is pleaded and what time limits apply.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Drafting, Pleading and Conveyancing – II on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.