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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>78456</law_id><section_number>20-89.1</section_number><catch_line>Suit to annul marriage</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>51.1-124.4</reference><reference>51.1-802</reference></referred_to_by><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="20">Domestic Relations</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="6">Divorce, Affirmation and Annulment</unit></structure><text>
						<section id="A"><p><span class="prefix-number">A.</span> When a marriage is alleged to be void or voidable for any of the causes mentioned in &#xA7; <a class="law" title="License and solemnization required" href="/20-13/">20-13</a>, <a class="law" title="Certain marriages prohibited" href="/20-38.1/">20-38.1</a>, or <a class="law" title="Void and voidable marriages" href="/20-45.1/">20-45.1</a> or by virtue of <span class="dictionary">fraud</span> or duress, either <span class="dictionary">party</span> may institute a suit for annulling the same; and upon proof of the nullity of the marriage, it shall be decreed void by a <span class="dictionary">decree</span> of <span class="dictionary">annulment</span>. <a id="paragraph-281234" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/20-89.1/#A"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="B"><p><span class="prefix-number">B.</span> In the case of natural or incurable impotency of body existing at the time of entering into the marriage <span class="dictionary">contract</span>, or when, prior to the marriage, either <span class="dictionary">party</span>, without the knowledge of the other, had been convicted of a <span class="dictionary">felony</span>, or when, at the time of the marriage, either spouse, without the knowledge of the other spouse, was with child by a person other than the other spouse or had conceived a child born to a person other than the other spouse within 10 months after the date of the solemnization of the marriage, or where, prior to the marriage, either <span class="dictionary">party</span> had been, without the knowledge of the other, a prostitute, a <span class="dictionary">decree</span> of <span class="dictionary">annulment</span> may be entered upon proof, on complaint of the <span class="dictionary">party</span> aggrieved. <a id="paragraph-281235" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/20-89.1/#B"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="C"><p><span class="prefix-number">C.</span> No <span class="dictionary">annulment</span> for a marriage alleged to be void or voidable under subsection B of &#xA7; <a class="law" title="Void and voidable marriages" href="/20-45.1/">20-45.1</a> or subsection B of this section or by virtue of <span class="dictionary">fraud</span> or duress shall be decreed if it appears that the <span class="dictionary">party</span> applying for such <span class="dictionary">annulment</span> has cohabited with the other after knowledge of the <span class="dictionary">facts</span> giving rise to what otherwise would have been grounds for <span class="dictionary">annulment</span>, and in no event shall any such <span class="dictionary">decree</span> be entered if the parties had been married for a period of two years prior to the institution of such suit for <span class="dictionary">annulment</span>. <a id="paragraph-281236" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/20-89.1/#C"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="D"><p><span class="prefix-number">D.</span> For any marriage entered into prior to July 1, 2024, a <span class="dictionary">party</span> who, at the time of such marriage as is mentioned in &#xA7; <a class="law" title="Minimum age of marriage" href="/20-48/">20-48</a>, was capable of consenting with a <span class="dictionary">party</span> not so capable shall not be permitted to institute a suit for the purpose of annulling such marriage. <a id="paragraph-281237" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/20-89.1/#D"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>1975, c. 644; 1976, c. 356; 2016, cc. 457, 543; 2020, c. 900; 2024, c. 737.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
