Albuquerque Divorce Lawyer Blog

There are a variety of reasons why a couple might seek an annulment rather than a divorce, ranging from religious values to the fact that they just don't like the sound of the word divorce. The purpose of an annulment as opposed to a divorce is that an annulment renders a marriage void, as if it never happened, whereas a divorce dissolves the marriage. Unfortunately, those who seek an annulment in New Mexico are most likely going to be disappointed.

Unlike a divorce, which can be filed in New Mexico for any reason or no reason at all under the "no-fault" divorce doctrine, an annulment can be filed for only very limited reasons. In New Mexico, a marriage can only be annulled by the Court if the marriage violated one of the requirements for a valid marriage from the beginning of the marriage.

For instance if one of the spouses was not old enough to property consent to the marriage, then the marriage is invalid as a matter of law. A person must be 18 years old to consent to a marriage unless they are 16 or older and have parental consent. A person younger than 16 is only allowed to marry by an order of the New Mexico Children's Court. Likewise, a person may lack the mental capacity to consent. Other legal prohibitions making the marriage invalid from the inception are the presence of incest or bigamy.

The presence of fraud can also be a grounds for annulment. However, this typically relates back to one of the aforementioned criteria. While it is conceivable that another situation might lead the Court to grant an annulment on the basis of fraud, the grounds for an annulment are very narrow. Unfortunately, fraud does not include such grounds as "he/she said he/she was rich," or "he/she is a completley different person now that we are married." That's not fraud. It's just bad luck, bad taste or bad judgment.

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In New Mexico, alimony is often referred to as spousal support and the two names are often used interchangeably. The purpose of spousal support/alimony is not necessarily to equalize income. Nor is it to punish one or the other spouses as New Mexico is a no-fault divorce state. Instead, it is used to balance income. The New Mexico Courts order alimony to insure that the spouse with less income is able to maintain a lifestyle commensurate to that before the divorce.

Spousal support/alimony is not mandatory in New Mexico, but judges will often follow the Alimony Guidelines developed by the Second Judicial District Court in Albuquerque. Most New Mexico Courts will at least consult the Alimony Guidelines in the determination of spousal support. As such, the Alimony Guidelines will provide a pretty good idea of whether your case will warrant alimony from either party.

While there are several elements the Court considers when deciding whether or not to order spousal support/alimony, the threshold determination is the length of spouses' marriage. The Court will generally not order spousal support/alimony in cases where the parties getting divorced have been married for less than ten years, absent exceptional circumstances.

If the Court determines that the length of marriage warrants further review of a party's claim for spousal support/alimony, the Court will consider other factors such as: the current income of the parties; the income earning potential of each of the parties; and the age, health, and medical needs of the parties. Though length of marriage and the income of the parties are the dominant factors, there are numerous other factors that the New Mexico Courts will consider as set forth in the Alimony Statute, NMSA 40-4-7(E).

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