There are two(2) ways to end a marriage. It would be either through a divorce or annulment. A divorce legally ends a marriage while an annulment declares the marriage null and void, as if it never existed. To get a decree annulling the marriage, the marriage would have to be either void or voidable. When a marriage is void, it means the marriage never existed lawfully in the first place.

A marriage can be void when:

• the correct procedure according to law is not followed to register a marriage, such as the parties were married in a place not registered to perform the ceremony; or
• either party is below the age of marriage permitted by law; or
• the parties are within the prohibited degrees of relationship such father/daughter; or
• that either party was forced into the marriage; or
• either party was already lawfully married to another person

A marriage is voidable on the following grounds:

• that the marriage has not been consummated owing to the willful refusal of the respondent to consummate it; or
• that at the time of the marriage either party to the marriage was of unsound mind or subject to recurrent attacks of insanity; or
• that the respondent was at the time of the marriage pregnant by some person other than the petitioner; or
• that the respondent was at the time of the marriage suffering from an incurable venereal disease in a communicable form.

The court will not grant a decree of nullity on the grounds of insanity, pregnancy or incurable venereal disease in a communicable form unless the court is satisfied that:

• the petitioner was at the time of the marriage ignorant of the facts making the marriage voidable; and
• proceedings were instituted within a year from the date of the marriage; and
• marital intercourse with the consent of the petitioner has not taken place since the petitioner  discovered the existence of the facts making the marriage voidable.

If the court cannot satisfy itself with the list mentioned above, the court will not grant a decree of nullity and the only option is to petition the court for a divorce to legally end the marriage.