In England and Wales a couple must generally have been married for at least one year before they are allowed to divorce. For couples who are not citizens, one person within the marriage must have lived in England and Wales for at least three years prior to the divorce. This is the case whatever the length of the marriage (although it must be at least one year) and regardless of whether they married in the country or not. These timelines are when the petition for divorce can be served, not when the divorce will actually go through. The reality is that it is likely to be at least a year and a half between a marriage and a divorce.

There is an exception to the above when adultery has been committed. In this case there is no time minimum time that a couple must have married for. For example, they could begin divorce proceedings only a month into the marriage. However, adultery must either be admitted by the guilty party or proven.

So how about remarrying? Often people believe there is a certain amount of time they must be divorced for before they marry someone else. This is false though. Someone can actually get married as long as they are not married to someone else, so immediately once the divorce is final and a decree nisi has been confirmed. In theory someone can remarry on the same day as their previous marriage ends.

For a couple to divorce they must satisfy certain criteria. There must be a particular reason for the divorce, such as the marriage having irretrievable broken down. Desertion is one such reason. In these cases the times line is different. For a couple to divorce they must have lived apart for two years if both agree to the divorce, or five years if they do not agree.

There are a number of reasons why there is a minimum time that a couple must have been married for before they divorce. One of these is to prevent people marrying to gain citizenship. If there was no minimum time it is feared people would temporarily marry so a non-British citizen can gain citizenship. Another reason is that a year is not generally considered enough time for a couple to make up their minds about whether their marriage is working.

The above rules relate to divorce, but there are circumstances whereby an annulment can be granted. This can be granted immediately after a marriage and effectively makes the marriage void. This means that officially the marriage never existed. Grounds whereby an annulment will be granted include circumstances where the marriage was illegal, for example if one person was not old enough to marry, the couple are close blood relations, or one person is married to someone else. An annulment can also be granted if it was a forced marriage or it was entered into fraudulently. Examples of this include one person lying about their circumstances to the other. If one person in a relationship is impotent and unable to consummate the marriage or didn’t have the mental capacity to get married (including because they were drunk) an annulment can be granted.

Andrew Marshall (c)