Grounds on Which a Marriage may be Invalid
Fri, 20 Jul 2012
The grounds on which a marriage may be invalid are:
- either of the parties is, at the time of the marriage, lawfully married to some other person
- the parties are within a prohibited relationship
- by reason of section 48 of the Marriage Act the marriage is not valid
- the consent of either of the parties is not a real consent because it was obtained by duress or fraud, a party was mistaken as to the identity of the other party or as to the nature of the ceremony performed or that party is mentally incapable of understanding the nature and effect of the marriage ceremony; and
- either of the parties is not of marriageable age (i.e. they are not 18 years of age or older)
Prohibited relationships are marriages:
- between a person and an ancestor or descendant
- an ancestor is someone from whom a person is descended (parent or grandparent)
- a descendant is someone descended from the person (child/grandchild), or
- between a person and their brother or sister (whether whole or half blood).
Some examples of a prohibited relationship:
In practice the prohibited relationship means a man cannot marry his grandmother, mother, sister or half-sister, daughter or granddaughter. A woman cannot marry her grandfather, father, brother or half-brother, son or grandson.
