Annulments

Marriages can also be ended through an annulment, which is different from a divorce. Unlike a divorce, an annulment treats a marriage as if it never existed. You can only get an annulment for very specific reasons.

In Iowa, a marriage can be annulled for the following reasons:

• The marriage was illegal
  • An example of this would be where first cousins married each other
• Either spouse was impotent at the time of marriage
  • The Iowa Code does not define impotence, but the Iowa Court of Appeals discussed the term in In re Marriage of Adam, No. 21-0693
• Either spouse already had a husband or wife living at the time of the marriage to be annulled
• Either spouse was a protected person under a guardianship and was found by a court to lack the capacity to contract for a valid marriage

Iowa Code section 598.29.