11.2 ANNULMENT
11.201 Grounds on Which Either Party May Institute Suit. Either party may institute a suit for annulment when a marriage is alleged to be void or voidable because:
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| 1. | The marriage was not properly licensed and solemnized according to Va. Code § 20-13 (the parties must have obtained a marriage license and participated in a marriage ceremony performed by an authorized official, coupled with mutual intent to marry); 1 | ||
| 2. | The marriage was prohibited under Va. Code § 20-38.1 (marriages entered into before the dissolution of an earlier marriage of one of the parties, a marriage between an ancestor and descendant, or between a brother and a sister, a marriage between an uncle and a niece or between an aunt and a nephew); | ||
| 3. | Either of the parties lacked the capacity to consent to the marriage because of mental incapacity or infirmity; 2 or | ||
| 4. | There was fraud or duress. 3 |
11.202 Grounds on Which Aggrieved Party May Institute Suit.
| 1. | A party who was capable of consenting at the time of the marriage (for example, they were 18 years or older), cannot institute a suit to annul the marriage; 4 | ||
| 2. | One party suffered from "natural or incurable impotency of the body" when the marriage contract was entered into; 5 | ||
| 3. | Before the marriage, either party, without the knowledge of the other, had been convicted of a felony; 6 | ||
| 4. | At the time of the marriage, the wife, without |
