A Concise Cultural History of Marriage Annulment vs. Divorce in the West
Thursday, February 6, 2025.
When a marriage ends, the world is accustomed to thinking in terms of divorce—a clean (or not-so-clean) legal severance of two partners who, for whatever reason, can no longer function as a couple.
But what if, instead of merely ending, a marriage was declared to have never truly existed?
That is the power of the annulment—a rare and, in some traditions, almost mystical declaration that dissolves a marriage not because it failed, but because it was never valid in the first place.
The history of marriage annulment reveals an evolving understanding of love, legitimacy, and personal autonomy.
Unlike divorce, which assumes a union was real and then ended, annulment challenges the very existence of the marriage, often invoking legal, religious, or social justifications.
Over the centuries, the criteria for annulment have reflected changing cultural attitudes toward marriage itself—who should enter it, why they should stay, and under what conditions they might be released.
From Sacred to Secular: Annulment in Ancient Societies
In the ancient world, marriage was often more a contract than a romantic union.
Among the Romans, marriages could be dissolved easily if they failed to meet social or familial expectations. However, annulment—the idea that a marriage was invalid from the start—was largely tied to elite families trying to escape political inconveniences.
If a union failed to produce heirs, for example, an argument could be made that some unknown factor (often tied to legal or religious laws) had made the marriage illegitimate from the beginning.
Early Christianity changed the game by sanctifying marriage as an unbreakable bond.
Yet, paradoxically, it also introduced the theological principle that certain marriages might never have been valid due to factors such as consanguinity (being too closely related), fraud, coercion, or lack of consent.
By the Middle Ages, annulments were a privilege of the powerful—monarchs and aristocrats could petition the Church for an annulment, but common people had little recourse except desertion.
The King Who Broke a Kingdom: Annulment in Tudor England
The most famous annulment in history, of course, belongs to King Henry VIII.
When the Pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry didn’t just move on—he split from the Catholic Church, creating the Church of England.
His case, built on the argument that Catherine had been married to his brother first (thus violating biblical law), exposed how annulment could be used as a political tool. Henry’s desperation for a legitimate heir—someone born of a "valid" marriage—demonstrated how deeply cultural and legal institutions tied marriage to lineage, inheritance, and legitimacy.
This episode set the stage for England’s Protestant Reformation, which made divorce more accessible (at least for men) but also introduced secular annulment laws. Across Europe, Catholic authorities continued to guard annulment as a theological process, while secular courts began adopting it as a legal remedy.
Annulment vs. Divorce in the Catholic Church: A Sacramental Escape Clause
In the Catholic tradition, marriage is a sacrament, which means it cannot be dissolved. However, annulments allow for a workaround: if a marriage was never truly valid in the eyes of God, then it never really happened. The Church considers various reasons for annulment, such as:
Lack of Informed Consent – One or both partners were unaware of what they were committing to.
Lack of Intent – If one spouse never intended to be faithful or open to children, the marriage was never real.
Psychological Incapacity – If one partner was too immature, mentally unwell, or otherwise incapable of fulfilling marital duties, the marriage is void.
Despite these allowances, Catholic annulments remained rare and heavily scrutinized, particularly before Vatican II(1962–1965), which made the process somewhat more accessible. In modern Catholic practice, annulments are now more common, though they still require lengthy investigations and Church approval.
Annulment vs. Divorce in Modern Law: A Second Chance or an Injustice?
In contemporary secular law, annulment exists as an alternative to divorce, but its criteria remain strict. Common legal grounds for annulment include:
Bigamy – One spouse was already married.
Fraud – One spouse deceived the other about something fundamental (e.g., hiding infertility, criminal history, or a secret identity).
Lack of Consummation – Some jurisdictions still require proof of physical consummation, though this concept is fading.
Underage Marriage – If one partner was too young to legally consent, the marriage can be annulled.
Unlike divorce, annulment can erase financial obligations such as alimony, and it often has implications for property division, inheritance, and even child custody. This has led to controversy in some cases where annulments have been used to escape legal or financial responsibility rather than to rectify genuine invalidity.
The Spy Who Loved Me: Ana Margarita Martínez and the Fight for an Annulment
One of the most sensational modern annulment cases involved Ana Margarita Martínez, a Miami woman who unknowingly married a Cuban spy. In the mid-1990s, Martínez fell in love with and married Juan Pablo Roque, a man she believed to be a defector from Fidel Castro's regime.
Roque had embedded himself in Miami’s Cuban exile community, even joining the activist group Brothers to the Rescue.
Then, one day in 1996, Roque vanished.
Days later, he appeared on Cuban television, denouncing the very people he had been living among and revealing that he had been a Cuban spy all along. The betrayal was not just personal—it was geopolitical.
Martínez, devastated, pursued legal action against the Cuban government, claiming that her marriage was a sham orchestrated by Havana. She sought damages for the psychological trauma she suffered and was ultimately awarded millions in a lawsuit—though collecting those funds proved difficult.
However, even more importantly, she pursued an annulment, arguing that her marriage had never been real in the first place.
The courts agreed.
Her case underscores how annulment can serve as a legal mechanism to correct profound deception, rather than simply ending a relationship.
Annulment vs. Divorce and the Psychology of Love: Who Seeks It and Why?
Psychological research suggests that people who seek annulments often frame their marriages as mistakes rather than failures. Unlike divorce, which acknowledges a relationship's end, annulment aligns with a deeper psychological need to undo regret.
This ties into what scholars call the "fresh start effect"—the human tendency to seek absolute breaks from past mistakes rather than gradual transitions.
Furthermore, the Dark Triad personality traits—Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy—may play a role in how people pursue and justify annulments.
Folks with high narcissistic tendencies might seek an annulment rather than a divorce to avoid the social stigma of a failed relationship. Meanwhile, highly Machiavellian souls may pursue annulments for strategic legal advantages, such as avoiding alimony or maintaining social standing.
On the flip side, annulment seekers often display higher levels of pragmatic love styles (Pragma)—seeing relationships as transactional and rational rather than emotional.
Compared to divorce, annulment allows a partner to erase an experience from their personal history, often providing a psychological reset that some find comforting.
The Future of Annulment in an Era of Relationship Experimentation
As modern relationships evolve—from cohabitation to polyamory to self-partnering—the idea of annulment may become more relevant than ever.
If marriage continues to be seen as a contract rather than a lifelong sacrament, societies may refine their understanding of when that contract was illegitimate from the start.
Martínez’s case reminds us that annulment isn’t just a legal technicality—it’s a tool for justice, a means of reclaiming agency, and, sometimes, an attempt to rewrite a chapter of one’s life that never should have been written in the first place.
Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.
REFERENCES:
Benfante, A., Di Tella, M., Veggi, S., Freilone, F., Castelli, L., & Zara, G. (2023). Love actually: Is relationship status associated with dark triad personality traits and attitudes towards love? Heliyon, 9(7), e18023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e18023
Cubanet. (1999, August 4). Exile wins lawsuit against Cuban government over marriage deception. Retrieved from https://www.cubanet.org/htdocs/CNews/y99/ago99/04e7.htm
Miami New Times. (2013, July 23). Cuban spy Juan Pablo Roque’s jilted ex-wife won $27 million for his deception. Retrieved from https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/cuban-spy-juan-pablo-roques-jilted-ex-wife-won-27-million-for-his-deception-6366603
Smith, A. (2006). Henry VIII and the reformation of England. Oxford University Press.
Vatican Council II. (1965). Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World). Retrieved from https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html