Void Marriage - U.K. Law

U.K. Law

Under the law of the United Kingdom, a void marriage is "one that is considered never to have taken place, whatever procedure may have been followed by the people concerned." Under the relevant law, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973:

a marriage is void if ...

the partners are related in a forbidden degree (see: Marriage). For example, a marriage between brother and sister would be void. It does not matter if the partners did not know they were related when the ceremony was carried out (odd as it sounds, this has happened in adoption cases), either partner was under 16 years of age, the formal procedures of marriage were not correctly followed; for example, the wedding may not have been in a registered building, or open to the public,

the partners were of the same gender at birth. —Kevin Boone web site