Skip to content 
Annulment Attorneys in Rockwall County, Texas
You married believing the marriage was legally sound. Then something surfaced—a concealed divorce, fraud that induced the marriage, or another fact that makes you question whether Texas law treats the marriage the way you thought it did. For someone searching for Annulments Attorneys in Rockwall County Texas, the first question is not simply whether you want the marriage to end. It is whether the marriage is voidable, void, or valid but better addressed through divorce. That distinction determines the legal path forward.
An annulment is the remedy for a voidable marriage—one that satisfies a ground found in Subchapter B of Chapter 6 of the Texas Family Code. Subchapter C addresses marriages Texas law makes void. Texas also begins with an important presumption: under Texas Family Code §1.101, every marriage entered into in Texas is presumed valid unless Chapter 6 expressly makes it void or makes it voidable and the marriage is annulled.
So, can you get an annulment in Texas? Only if the facts satisfy a statutory annulment ground. A marriage being short is not enough. Regretting the wedding is not enough. And realizing soon afterward that you married the wrong person is not, by itself, enough. Texas law requires the facts to fit the statute. If they do not, divorce may still provide a path forward because Texas permits no-fault divorce without proving an annulment ground.
That is why determining the right legal route should come before deciding how to pursue it. Lisa Kreider represents clients in annulment, divorce, and related family-law matters from our Rockwall office. At The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC, our goal is to help you understand what the law actually says, identify the options your circumstances support, and move forward with greater clarity and confidence.
Quick Answer
The Texas Family Code does not set a particular net-worth threshold, and it does not create a separate property-division standard based on the size of an estate. Under Texas Family Code §7.001 the court divides the estate of the parties in a manner it deems just and right, whatever that estate is worth. “High-net-worth divorce” is a practical description for cases involving substantial or financially complex estates — and what changes is the financial and evidentiary work needed before that standard can be applied: identifying what the estate contains, establishing what is community and what is separate, working out what assets are worth, and documenting it. Our Rockwall office represents clients in Rockwall County whose divorces involve substantial or financially complicated estates.
Key Takeaways
- An annulment requires a statutory annulment ground; a no-fault divorce does not.
- Voidable and void are not the same — Subchapter B grounds make a marriage voidable; Subchapter C governs marriages made void by statute.
- Four grounds share one condition. §§6.105–6.108 each require that the petitioner has not voluntarily cohabited since the relevant moment.
- A short marriage is not enough by itself.
- There is a jurisdictional limit divorce does not have — §6.306.
Our Rockwall Office
Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC
908 N Goliad St, Rockwall, TX 75087 · Rockwall County
Office hours: Monday–Friday, 8:00am–6:00pm
Phone and intake available 24/7
Is Your Marriage Voidable or Void?
Texas law treats a voidable marriage differently from a void marriage, and knowing which category applies determines the legal remedy you may need. For people researching Annulments Attorneys in Rockwall County Texas, this is an important first distinction: a voidable marriage may be annulled when a statutory ground exists under Subchapter B of Chapter 6, while a marriage made void by law is addressed separately under Subchapter C.
For example, if a spouse used fraud to induce the marriage and the statutory requirements of §6.107 are satisfied, annulment may be the appropriate route. If one spouse was already married to someone else when the later marriage occurred, §6.202 instead places the issue within Texas law governing void marriages, including specific rules addressing when a later marriage can become valid.
If neither category fits, ending the relationship may instead require a divorce in Rockwall County. The important first step is identifying what Texas law says about the marriage itself, because annulment, declaring a marriage void, and divorce are different legal paths with different requirements.
| Voidable — Subchapter B | Void — Subchapter C | |
|---|---|---|
| Status of the marriage | Treated as valid unless and until a court annuls it | Made void by statute, subject to Subchapter C’s own rules |
| What the court does | May grant an annulment where a ground applies | Declares the marriage void |
| Sections | Subchapter B (§§6.102–6.111; some provisions are historical or procedural) | §§6.201–6.206 |
| Examples | Fraud, duress or force; impotency; concealed divorce | Consanguinity (§6.201); a prior existing marriage (§6.202); a party under 18 without a court order removing the disabilities of minority (§6.205); a current or former stepchild or stepparent (§6.206) |
| Jurisdiction | §6.306 | §6.307 |
Does My Situation Potentially Fit an Annulment Ground?
| Situation | Provision to investigate |
|---|---|
| I was too intoxicated to understand or consent to the marriage | §6.105 |
| My spouse had permanent impotency I did not know about | §6.106 |
| Fraud, duress or force induced me to marry | §6.107 |
| Mental incapacity affected the ability to consent to the marriage or understand the nature of the marriage ceremony | §6.108 |
| My spouse concealed a divorce shortly before our wedding | §6.109 |
| We married inside the prohibited 72-hour license period | §6.110 |
| My spouse was already married to someone else | Void-marriage analysis under §6.202 |
| None of these appears to fit | Consider another Subchapter C provision, or divorce |
This is a screening framework, not the complete statutory test. Each provision contains additional requirements.
What Grounds Does the Family Code List?
Each ground carries statutory conditions — things that must be shown, and in several cases things that will defeat the claim.
| Section | Ground | What the statute also requires |
|---|---|---|
| §6.105 | Under the influence of alcohol or narcotics | The petitioner lacked capacity to consent as a result, and has not voluntarily cohabited since the effects ended |
| §6.106 | Impotency | Either party was permanently impotent at the time of the marriage, the petitioner did not know, and has not voluntarily cohabited since learning of it |
| §6.107 | Fraud, duress or force | The other party used it to induce the petitioner to enter into the marriage, and the petitioner has not voluntarily cohabited since learning of the fraud or being released from the duress or force |
| §6.108 | Mental incapacity | Two routes — the petitioner’s own incapacity under (a), or the other party’s under (b), each with its own cohabitation condition |
| §6.109 | Concealed divorce | The other party was divorced from a third party within the 30 days before the ceremony, the petitioner neither knew nor reasonably would have, and has not voluntarily cohabited since discovering it. No suit after the first anniversary of the marriage |
| §6.110 | Marriage inside the 72-hour period after the license issued | No suit after the 30th day after the marriage |
| §6.102 | Underage marriage — historical; see the note below | Turns on parental consent and court orders under Chapter 2 provisions repealed effective September 1, 2017 |
Texas does not grant an annulment simply because a marriage was short or unsuccessful. For people researching Annulments Attorneys in Rockwall County Texas, the key question is whether the facts satisfy a statutory ground in Subchapter B of Chapter 6 of the Texas Family Code. Those grounds include intoxication affecting consent (§6.105), permanent impotency (§6.106), fraud, duress or force (§6.107), mental incapacity (§6.108), a concealed recent divorce (§6.109), and certain marriages occurring within the 72-hour waiting period after a marriage license is issued (§6.110).
One condition appears repeatedly: voluntary cohabitation after the relevant event or discovery can matter. Sections 6.105 through 6.108 contain cohabitation restrictions, and §6.109 contains one as well. For example, if someone discovers alleged fraud that induced the marriage but voluntarily continues living with the spouse afterward, that conduct can affect whether annulment remains available under §6.107.
When duress or force is alleged, the facts may also involve threats, violence, or coercive conduct. Those circumstances can raise separate safety and criminal-law concerns, and readers facing that situation may also find our information about assault-related legal issues in Rockwall County useful. The annulment itself, however, still depends on satisfying the specific requirements of Texas Family Code §6.107.
Underage marriages require a different analysis based on when the marriage occurred. Texas changed its law effective September 1, 2017; under current §6.205, a marriage involving a person under 18 who has not obtained a court order removing the disabilities of minority is void rather than merely voidable under the former framework. That illustrates why identifying a possible ground is only the beginning—the dates, evidence, later conduct, and whether the marriage is voidable or void can determine the correct legal path.
Not Sure If Your Situation Fits a Ground?
Tell us what happened and when, and we can help you work out whether annulment is available.
Schedule a ConsultationAnnulment or Divorce — What Is the Difference?
| Annulment | Divorce | |
|---|---|---|
| Requires a specific statutory basis? | Yes — a Subchapter B ground | A §6.001 no-fault divorce does not |
| Is a short marriage enough? | No | Not required for a no-fault divorce |
| 60-day waiting period? | Does not apply (§6.702(b)) | Generally applies (§6.702(a)), with statutory exceptions |
| Voluntary-cohabitation conditions? | Several grounds contain them | No comparable annulment-ground requirement |
| Jurisdiction | §6.306 | §6.301 |
What Kind of Fraud Can Support an Annulment?
Not every lie or broken promise is grounds for a Texas annulment. For people researching Annulments Attorneys in Rockwall County Texas, Texas Family Code §6.107 focuses on fraud used to induce someone to enter the marriage. The petitioner must also show that they did not voluntarily cohabit with the spouse after discovering the fraud.
Texas courts look closely at what was represented before the marriage and whether it was false when made. In Zhang v. Zhang, the Fifth Court of Appeals affirmed an annulment based on findings that premarital statements were false when made and intended to induce the marriage. That appellate court covers Rockwall County, making its analysis particularly relevant to local annulment cases.
A later broken promise is different. Suppose a spouse makes a promise before the wedding and later fails to keep it. The failure alone does not establish annulment fraud; when the representation concerns future conduct, an important question is whether the spouse intended not to perform when the promise was originally made.
In more complex cases, fraud allegations may overlap with financial deception, coercion, threats, substance use, or other conduct requiring separate legal analysis. Alcohol-related conduct, for example, may also raise issues outside the annulment case, including DWI and DUI matters in Rockwall County. For the annulment itself, however, the central questions remain what was represented before the marriage, whether it induced the marriage, and what happened after the fraud was discovered.
What Does Not Automatically Qualify?
| Situation | Why not |
|---|---|
| A very short marriage | Duration itself is not one of Chapter 6’s grounds |
| Regretting the marriage | Regret is not among the Subchapter B grounds |
| A lie discovered during the marriage | Not automatically §6.107 fraud — inducement into the marriage is what matters |
| A broken promise | Not automatically fraudulent inducement — the question is whether it was false when made |
| No sexual relationship after the wedding | Not automatically §6.106 permanent impotency |
Is There a Deadline?
There is no single annulment deadline in Texas.
| Ground | Filing rule |
|---|---|
| Concealed recent divorce — §6.109 | No suit after the first anniversary of the marriage |
| 72-hour license violation — §6.110 | No suit after the 30th day after the marriage |
| Other grounds | No single universal annulment deadline; other statutory conditions may apply |
Working the other way, the 60-day divorce waiting period does not apply. Texas Family Code §6.702(b) provides that no waiting period is required before a court may grant an annulment or declare a marriage void, other than as required in civil cases generally. The 60 days in §6.702(a) applies to a divorce. That does not make an annulment automatic or immediate — the statutory ground still has to be established, and §6.702(b) preserves whatever waiting applies in civil cases generally.
Can a Texas Court Hear My Annulment Case?
Jurisdiction should be checked early, because annulment uses a different rule from ordinary divorce. Texas Family Code §6.306 provides that a suit for annulment may be maintained in Texas only if the parties were married in this state or either party is domiciled in this state. Notice what is absent: there is no six-month domicile or 90-day county-residency requirement of the kind §6.301 imposes on a divorce suit. For a marriage made void by statute, §6.307 sets out a parallel but separate rule, and a court may declare such a marriage void in a collateral proceeding.
An Annulment Does Not Make Every Other Issue Disappear
Children. An annulment addresses the marriage; it does not make parent-child issues disappear. Under Texas Family Code §6.406, qualifying parent-child issues are included in the dissolution proceeding where the statutory conditions are met. The court system classifies these as two different case types: the Texas Office of Court Administration’s district court civil suits and actions schedule lists annulment involving children and annulment not involving children separately, and notes that an annulment involving children is a suit affecting the parent-child relationship while one not involving children is not. If another court already has continuing jurisdiction over the child, different transfer rules apply. For custody and related issues, see child custody in Rockwall County.
Property. An annulment does not necessarily mean there is nothing to resolve financially. Texas Family Code §6.707 expressly addresses transfers of community property and debts incurred while a suit for divorce or annulment is pending, treating those made with intent to injure the other spouse’s rights as void with respect to that spouse in the circumstances it sets out. See property division in Rockwall County.
Meet Lisa Kreider, Your Rockwall Annulment Attorney
Your Rockwall Attorney
Lisa Kreider
Annulment, Divorce and Family Law Attorney · Rockwall Office
Lisa represents clients in annulment, divorce, and related family-law matters from our Rockwall office. Her family-law experience includes mediation, temporary-order hearings, contested evidentiary matters and final trials. In an annulment matter, one of the first questions is whether the facts satisfy a statutory ground — or whether a different legal route applies. Lisa can help clients evaluate that threshold question and understand what comes next.
She has been licensed in Texas since 2017 and practices from our Rockwall office. Her approach is to identify what is genuinely disputed, pursue resolution where it makes sense, and prepare thoroughly for court when it does not.
Read Lisa’s Full ProfileAnnulment in Rockwall County
Rockwall County publishes civil and family filing resources through the District Clerk, whose courthouse is at 1111 E. Yellowjacket Lane in Rockwall, and maintains a law library page of family law online resources pointing the public to divorce and annulment self-help material. Our office is at 908 N. Goliad Street in Rockwall. For how the local courts are organized, see our Rockwall County family law guide.
Not sure whether annulment or divorce is your route?
Answer a few short questions about what is happening — what the matter involves, where you are in the process, and whether children are involved — and your answers help us identify the type of help you may need and the appropriate local team. For Rockwall County matters, that may include our Rockwall office. It takes about a minute, and there is no obligation.
Start Here — Answer a Few Questions Or schedule a consultationListen to Our Texas Family Law Podcast
Prefer listening? In this episode, we explain Texas annulment law for Rockwall families, including the difference between void and voidable marriages, when an annulment may be available, and what to know before pursuing this option.
Sources and Legal Resources
- Texas Family Code Chapter 6, Subchapter B — grounds for annulment
- Texas Family Code Chapter 6, Subchapter C — declaring a marriage void
- Texas Family Code §6.306 — jurisdiction to annul a marriage
- Rockwall County Law Library — family law online resources
- Texas S.B. 1705 (85th Legislature, 2017) — marriage of a minor
- Texas Family Code §1.101 — every marriage presumed valid
- Texas Family Code Chapter 6 — full text, including §6.107 fraud, §§6.109–6.110 time limits, §6.406 children, §6.702 waiting period and §6.707 property
- Zhang v. Zhang, No. 05-13-00389-CV (Tex. App.—Dallas Aug. 5, 2014, mem. op.)
- Rockwall County District Clerk — Civil and Family filing resources
Conclusion:
The most important question in a Texas annulment case is not simply whether you want the marriage to end—it is which legal path the facts support. In straightforward situations, a specific statutory ground may point toward annulment. In more complex cases involving disputed fraud, voluntary cohabitation, a prior existing marriage, children, substantial property, or conflicting evidence, the analysis may instead involve a suit to declare the marriage void, divorce, or several related legal issues.
For someone searching for Annulments Attorneys in Rockwall County Texas, the value of legal guidance is understanding those distinctions before choosing a strategy. Lisa Kreider and our Rockwall team can evaluate the facts, explain the available options, and help determine the level of representation appropriate for your situation. If serious conduct connected with the relationship also creates separate criminal-law concerns, those issues require their own analysis; our resources on homicide matters in Rockwall County provide additional information when that subject is genuinely relevant.
You do not need to decide on your own whether your marriage is voidable, void, or should be ended through divorce. The goal is to understand what Texas law actually allows, what evidence matters, and what each option could mean for your family. With that clarity, you can make the next decision based on a plan rather than uncertainty and move forward with greater confidence and peace of mind.
You do not need to arrive knowing whether annulment, a suit to declare the marriage void, or divorce is the right answer. That is part of what the legal analysis is for. If you are uncertain where your situation fits, the next useful step is to get clarity about your options so you can make an informed decision, regain some control, and move forward knowing why the path you choose makes sense for you and your family.
About the Author
Bryan Fagan
Founder & Managing Attorney
Texas Family Law · Licensed in Texas Since 2012
Bryan Fagan founded the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC in 2012 and practices Texas family law, including divorce, child custody, property division, and related family-law matters. He built the firm around helping families understand the legal process, make informed decisions, and have a clear strategy for what comes next.
J.D., South Texas College of Law · Licensed by the State Bar of Texas since 2012
About Our Firm
The Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC serves families across Texas through a growing network of local offices, including our Rockwall office. That structure is the point: you have access to a Rockwall-based family-law attorney, backed by one of the largest family law firms in Texas and its 170+ legal professionals.
For the firm’s history, values, and full attorney roster, see about the Law Office of Bryan Fagan. For Rockwall specifically, start with the attorneys at our Rockwall office.
Frequently Asked Questions
See the comparison table above. A divorce ends a valid marriage, and a Texas no-fault divorce does not require proof of an annulment ground. An annulment is the remedy for a voidable marriage and requires a Subchapter B ground with its own conditions.
A voidable marriage is treated as valid unless and until a court annuls it. Void marriages are governed by Subchapter C, §§6.201–6.206, which has its own rules. Section 6.202, for example, addresses circumstances in which a later marriage initially made void by an existing prior marriage can become valid, and current law — amended effective June 20, 2025 — also contains additional protections for certain putative spouses.
The grounds are set out in Subchapter B and summarized in the table above — intoxication, impotency, fraud/duress/force, mental incapacity, concealed recent divorce, and marriage inside the 72-hour period after the license issued.
Yes, if either party is domiciled in Texas. §6.306 allows an annulment suit where the parties married in Texas or either party is domiciled here, so an out-of-state marriage qualifies on the domicile route.
No. A short marriage is not a ground — see what does not automatically qualify, above. §1.101 presumes every Texas marriage valid unless Chapter 6 expressly makes it void, or voidable and annulled.
It depends on the ground — see the deadline table above. There is no single limitation period, and several grounds also turn on whether the petitioner has voluntarily cohabited since the relevant point.
Ready to Find Out Which Route You Have?
Our Rockwall office handles annulment matters and can help you determine whether a statutory ground applies, whether the marriage may instead be void, and what route is available if annulment does not fit.
Schedule a Consultationor call (972) 379-9791
This page provides general information about Texas annulment, divorce, and family law and about our services. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. No attorney can promise a particular outcome in a family-law case; what we commit to is representation, preparation, and clear communication about where your case stands.
