In Move 'So Rare,' Marriage Annulled Due to Lack of Sex

In what the CBC declares "a legal procedure so rare Statistics Canada doesn't even track the numbers," a Canadian couple had their marriage annulled because of the husband's inability to maintain an erection. A British Columbia Supreme Court justice granted the annulment sought by a BC woman for religious reasons; the woman claimed her husband, whom she wed in August 2018, was impotent and they were never able to consummate the marriage. The judge noted in her ruling that in past centuries, couples were forced to prove such a claim in front of "a jury of medical professionals and others," but in this case, she accepted affidavits from the couple testifying to their trouble copulating.

A family and estate lawyer who blogged about the case notes that annulments, which render a marriage void as if it never happened, are "so rare." "I think people have this misconception that if you're married for only a quickie in Vegas, you can just get an annulment," she says, but in reality "it's far easier to get an uncontested divorce." As for the BC case, the man blamed his wife for their lack of intercourse, claiming he has sex regularly with his new girlfriend, but said girlfriend did not testify in the case. The couple had not attempted to have sex until after they were married, the Vancouver Sun reports. (More annulment stories.)