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- 1). Consult with an attorney to find out what the laws are regarding annulment where you live. Some states have statutes of limitation, so you have to prepare the annulment within a certain amount of time from the marriage. Make sure you have legal grounds and an annulment suits your purposes better than a simple divorce.
- 2). Go online and visit your state's judicial website. A great many states, such as Texas, provide free downloadable forms for documents pertaining to family law matters. Locate one for a petition for annulment. Fill in the blanks and explain why you think your marriage qualifies for an annulment. If your state doesn't offer downloadable forms on its website, go to a website that sells legal forms for use in your state, or call your local courthouse to see if it has a printed format available.
- 3). Make several copies of your petition, and take it to your local courthouse. Some states require that you file the original and one copy; others require more copies. The court clerk will assign your petition a case number, mark it as filed and return one of the copies to you.
- 4). Serve your spouse with a copy of the petition. If she is in agreement with you that the marriage should be annulled, she can simply sign an acknowledgment of service, stating that she received the petition. Otherwise, take the filed copy of the petition to your local sheriff. The sheriff will serve it on your spouse for a fee. If you serve your spouse yourself, you will also have to file the acknowledgment of service with the court.
- 5). Collect the evidence you will need to prove to the court that it should grant your annulment. The more proof you have, the better -- especially if your spouse contests the matter. If he was already married to someone else when he married you, track down a copy of his old marriage license. If he failed to tell you something that would have changed your mind about marrying him, document the circumstances.
- 6). Call the court to get a date when you can appear before a judge to submit your evidence. Most states have a 30-to-35-day waiting period to allow your spouse to respond to your petition if he wants to contest the annulment. If he doesn't do that, you will probably get a date relatively quickly. Otherwise, you may have to go through a trial.
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