Cancellation of marriage

Cancellation of marriage

"I suspect that the new husband of one of my friends only married her to obtain a residence permit. Is there a quick and easy way for her to be released from this pointless commitment?"

S., Lausanne

Dissolution of marriage by divorce is the most common way of ending a marriage. The procedure is initiated by one of the spouses, or by agreement between them. In general, a prior period of separation of at least two years is required, except in the case of a joint application or where there are serious grounds for considering the continuation of the marriage unbearable. There is, however, another way of ending the union. This is the procedure for annulment of the marriage, which can be initiated if certain fairly strict legal conditions relating to cases of error or fraud are met. A distinction must be made here between absolute and relative grounds for annulment.

Where there is absolute cause, the marriage must be annulled, regardless of the wishes of the spouses. This applies in particular to a marriage celebrated when one of the spouses does not wish to establish a conjugal community but is seeking to obtain a Swiss residence permit to which he or she is not entitled. This is also the case if one of the spouses is incapable of discernment for an extended period of time, if there is a pre-existing marriage or if there are family ties between the spouses, which can also lead to an automatic annulment of the marriage. Any interested party, in addition to each spouse personally, may also request that the marriage be annulled, it being specified that a third party must have an interest in the annulment. This applies, for example, to a spouse from a previous marriage in the case of bigamy. An action for annulment of the marriage based on an absolute clause may be brought at any time.

If the cause is not absolute but relative, the marriage annulment procedure will be slightly different. A relative clause exists, for example, where consent was given by mistake by one of the spouses at the time of the marriage, or where one spouse is temporarily incapable of discernment.

In the latter case, the marriage is not automatically null and void but may be annulled at the request of the spouse concerned, who may do so within six months of the discovery of the cause for annulment.It follows from the above that your friend seems to be able to rely on an absolute cause for annulment of her marriage. On the other hand, you yourself do not have sufficient interest to bring such an action on your own.