Pennsylvania Annulment and Prohibited Marriage Laws

When there has been no confirmation by cohabitation after marriage, a marriage shall be deemed void in the following circumstances under 23 Pa. C.S.A. § 3304:

• Where either party had an existing spouse at the time of marriage and the former marriage had not been annulled or had there been a divorce (except where the party obtained a decree of the presumed death of the former spouse)
• Where the parties of marriage are related within the degrees of consanguinity listed in the statute
• Where either party was incapable of consent by reason of insanity or serious mental disorder or otherwise lacked the capacity to consent or did not intend to consent to the marriage
• Where either party to a purported common-law marriage was under 18 years of age

• Underage or under the influence: Within 60 days of marriage (23 Pa. C.S.A. § 3305(a))
• Incestuous marriage: Before death (23 Pa. C.S.A. § 3305(b))

• No marriage license may be issued for applicants under the age of 16 unless the court decides that it is in the best interest of the applicant and authorizes the issuance of the license; no marriage license may be issued if either of the applicants is under age 18 without the consent of the custodial parent or guardian; also, no marriage license may be issued if either of the applicants is weak-minded, insane, or of an unsound mind, under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or within the degrees of consanguinity listed in the statute (23 Pa. C.S.A. § 1304)
• All marriages within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity are voidable: between ancestor and descendant, aunt and nephew, brother and sister, uncle and niece, first cousins (23 Pa. C.S.A. § 1703)
• A married person is guilty of bigamy, a misdemeanor of the second degree, if they contract or purport to contract another marriage, unless at the time of the subsequent marriage: they believe the prior spouse is dead, they have been living apart for two consecutive years throughout which the prior spouse was not known by the actor to be alive or the court entered a judgment purporting to terminate or annul any prior disqualifying marriage, and the actor doesn't know that judgment to be invalid (18 Pa. C.S.A. § 4301)