When you’re married, you’re married. Most people wants the marriage for once in a life time. But at some point, you want to “undo” the decision and “reinstate” the status. From married to single. This is doable with the marriage annulment. Although permitted under strict requirements, the application for marriage annulment must be lodged to the court within the territory of the Republic of Indonesia. This is the procedures to turn the clock around under civil law in Indonesia. This has several legal consequences to your marital status. Shall we go over the rest of them? Read on!
Marriage annulment in Indonesia is a court litigation proceedings, similar with divorce application. It requires litigation skills by lawyers who specialize in civil law, family law or international civil law to assist you to navigate with the sophisticated legal system. At Wijaya & Co., we assist our clients with their annulment cases in Indonesia. The proceeding may be conducted with the same chamber of court with other family law cases. Some may not be familiar with the proceedings as this is one of a kind.
The application for annulment of marriage must meet the following criterias:
- It must be made within six (6) months since the marriage date. They have strict time-frame. If you stay in the marriage for more than six months, they think you’re accepting the marriage. They might think you enjoy tying the not with your spouse. Comfy, yet?
- Must be made to the court according to your jurisdiction. They set-out a very strict ruling with the court jurisdiction. This is understandable as the legal system needs to provide a certainty for those whose committed with the sacred bond of matrimony.
The parties that may apply for the marriage annulment are as follows:
- Upper line family members of husband, or wife. They include your parents, your grand parents, etc.
- Husband or wife. They must step forward and tell the truth. After all, this is the life they’re about to go through;
- The authorized officer before the marriage dissolved. They may be able to do it by occupation;
- Any party that has legal interest to the marriage, but only after the marriage has been dissolved. This may be related to the the property acquired during the marriage i.e. mortgage with the bank, etc. This situation makes things get complicated. Other third parties may be involved in the marriage because finally they are affected as well;
- Any person related to the bride or groom under the marriage relationship. The child(ren) of either spouse may be included in this category. They are the person that may be suffer more than anybody else if the marriage turns sour.
One of the main requirements to apply for the annulment is that the marriage must be originally performed and registered in Indonesia. It doesn’t matter if it was a Moslem or Non-Moslem marriage. It must be registered and recognised under the Indonesia’s Marriage Law. The marriage must have proof of registration from the marriage registry in Indonesia. It doesn’t matter your nationality, whether you’re an Indonesian or a foreigner. Please contact me if you want more details on this matter.
The court upon receipt of the marriage annulment shall hold a litigation proceedings, and the procedures shall be set-up according to the applicable divorce litigation proceedings. Some pointers that you need to anticipate is that the court may require two (2) witnesses to testify. They need to come to the court and supply the information to the judge. The court will take their oath in order to be used as evidence. This is a substantial part of the case and therefore you must have some family members to support you should you want to go ahead with the case.
Although, the marriage annulment may reverse your marital status, but it will not, in anyway, take effect to the children born into the marriage, property, debt and other financial consequences. This is according to the Article 28 of the Marriage Law. The annulment of a marriage applicable after the court order legally binding. You see we have 14 (fourteen) days waiting period for you to file for an appeal. If they didn’t receive any appeal from either party within that period, the annulment will be legally binding. You’re back to square one!
My name is Asep Wijaya. Thank you for reading my posts!
