Annulment in the States / marriage here

[londonblinks]

Hi there

I know the sensible answer is go and talk to a lawyer but wondered if there was anyone out there who knows a bit on this...

My partner was married in the States but had her marriage annulled in Boston. We plan to get married in London in the Spring.

I am a bit embarrassed as I don't really understand the difference between an annulment and a divorce.

Can we marry now? Or will there be more paper work we need to do?

Annulment usually means that the marriage effectively never happened. It could have been entered into fraudulently or on false information, was bigamous, underage, there was coercion, etc. Usually it's done quite quickly after the marriage and the marriage is then regarded as void. Divorce acknowledges that the marriage took place and that both parties mutually agreed to end it. Did she have the choice between annulment and divorce at the time? Do you know the back story?

Another thought..... was it a civil or religious annulment?

I know some of the ins and outs. My partners then husband was a serial cheater. I'm in awkward position because I don't want to drag up a time that was very hard for her so I have to go carefully. The wedding itself was registered in the US.

In the context of marriage, I'd have thought it was pretty basic stuff to have a good idea of the salient points. Not so much about the behaviour of the then husband but about the reasons why it was an annulment rather than a divorce, when the process took place, what form it took etc. Does she have supporting paperwork?