What Is the Difference Between Divorce and Annulment?

In both Arkansas and Oklahoma, a divorce or dissolution is a legal decree ending a marriage before either spouse dies. A divorce might include a resolution of related issues, including the division of property, child custody, child support, and spousal support.

Once a divorce is final, the spouses are not bound to each other legally and can marry other people. The process of divorce typically involves navigating complex legal procedures and emotional challenges, often requiring detailed financial disclosures and negotiations to reach a fair settlement for all parties involved.

An annulment is a legal decree that the marriage is void. This means that the marriage will be treated as if it never existed. Following an annulment, both parties will be single and free to marry others. During an annulment proceeding, the court may deal with related issues, including property division and child custody. Unlike divorce, which dissolves a valid marriage, an annulment declares that a valid marriage never took place due to some fundamental flaw or impediment present at the time of the marriage.

Grounds for Divorce in Arkansas

In Arkansas, the sole ground for a no-fault divorce is that the couple has lived separately for 18 months before filing. This period of separation is intended to demonstrate an irremediable breakdown of the marriage without assigning blame to either party. Other grounds for a divorce in Arkansas include the following under Ark. Code § 9-12-301:

Impotence: The inability of one spouse to engage in sexual intercourse, existing at the time of marriage and continuing.
Habitual drunkenness of one or more years: A pattern of excessive alcohol consumption that has persisted for at least a year and negatively impacts the marriage.
Felony conviction: When one spouse has been convicted of a felony offense.
Cruel or inhumane treatment: Behavior by one spouse that causes severe emotional or physical distress to the other.
Adultery: Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than their spouse.
Insanity: A spouse’s mental incapacity that prevents them from fulfilling the duties of marriage.
Failure to support: The willful refusal or neglect of a spouse to provide necessary financial support for the other spouse or family.
Humiliation: Conduct by one spouse that publicly disgraces or shames the other.

Obtaining a divorce based on fault will require you to present evidence about one of the above-listed factors. This often means providing testimony, documents, or other forms of proof to the court to substantiate the claim.

Grounds for Divorce in Oklahoma

Most divorces in Oklahoma are filed on a no-fault basis, typically citing “incompatibility” as the reason, which reflects a mutual decision that the marriage cannot continue. However, Oklahoma lists specific fault grounds for divorce under 43 Okla. Stat. §43-101 as follows:

Impotency: Similar to Arkansas, this refers to the physical inability to consummate the marriage.
Abandonment for one or more years: When one spouse voluntarily leaves the marital home with the intent to end the marriage for a continuous period of at least one year.
Adultery: Engaging in extramarital sexual relations.
Pregnancy by someone else at the time of marriage: If one spouse was pregnant by another person at the time of marriage without the other spouse’s knowledge.
Fraud: Misrepresentation of a material fact by one spouse that induced the other to enter the marriage.
Cruelty: Persistent unkind or abusive treatment that endangers the life, health, or personal dignity of the other spouse.
Habitual drunkenness: A persistent pattern of excessive alcohol use that interferes with marital duties.
Felony conviction: The conviction of a spouse for a felony.
Gross neglect: The failure of one spouse to provide for the support of the other spouse or family when they have the ability to do so.
Insanity: A mental condition rendering a spouse incapable of fulfilling marital obligations, often requiring institutionalization for a specific period.

Grounds for an Annulment in Arkansas

The grounds for an annulment in Arkansas are more limited than for a divorce, focusing on issues that made the marriage invalid from its inception. Under Ark. Code § 9-12-201, the grounds for annulment include the following:

Incapable of consent because of age or lack of understanding: This covers situations where a party was underage and married without proper consent, or lacked the mental capacity to understand the nature of marriage.
Physical inability to enter the marriage: Typically refers to incurable impotence that prevents sexual consummation of the marriage.
Force or fraud: If one party was coerced into marriage through physical force, threats, or was deceived into marriage by a significant misrepresentation of facts.

This means that you can get an annulment if you were too young to consent to your marriage, have an intellectual disability that prevents you from consenting to a marriage, were too intoxicated at the time to legally consent, or your spouse was impotent and unable to consummate the marriage.

These grounds essentially argue that the marriage was never legally valid from the start, making the annulment process possible under these circumstances.

Grounds for an Annulment in Oklahoma

The grounds for an annulment are found in several statutes in Okla. Stat. Title 43 § 43-101 et. seq. These grounds include the following:

Younger than 18 at the time of the marriage: If a party was a minor and did not have the necessary parental or court consent for marriage.
Mental incompetence: When a party lacked the mental capacity to understand the nature and obligations of marriage.
Bigamy: If one party was already legally married to another person at the time of the subsequent marriage.
Marriage to someone new within six months of divorcing someone else: Oklahoma law may impose a waiting period after a divorce before a party can remarry, and a marriage entered into during this period may be voidable.

One of the biggest differences between divorce and annulment in both Oklahoma and Arkansas is that there are fewer grounds for getting an annulment than a divorce. Annulments address fundamental flaws in the formation of the marriage itself, rather than issues that arise during the course of a marriage.

Consult the Law Offices of Craig L. Cook for Help

Deciding whether to pursue a divorce or an annulment is a personal devcision, and understanding the legal differences between the two is essential if you are eligible for either process. Both options can involve complex issues such as property division, debt division, child custody and support, and spousal support, all of which require experienced legal advice to navigate successfully.

Consulting a skilled divorce attorney can help you determine which process is right for you, allowing you to promptly terminate your marriage. For more information, call the Law Offices of Craig L. Cook at 479-783-8000.

The Difference Between Divorce and Annulment