The Marriage(s) of Alan and Lolita Grayson

Alan Grayson and Lolita Carson married in 1986; it was a second marriage for both. The couple went on to have five children together. In 1990, Lolita Grayson applied for United States citizenship, and Alan Grayson saw her citizenship application before she submitted it. On the application, she listed her marital status as “separated.” More than 20 years later, during the couple’s divorce proceedings, it was revealed that Lolita was still legally married to her first husband at the time that she married Alan Grayson. In 2015, a judge annulled their marriage, declaring it void because of bigamy. In other words, the court declared that the couple had never been legally married because Lolita was legally married to someone else when she and Alan Grayson married each other.

How Is an Annulment Different from a Divorce?

The Graysons’ divorce was complicated for many reasons. In addition to the couple’s acrimonious disputes over their assets, which were valued at approximately $30 million, Lolita accused her husband of physical abuse. The divorce proceedings ended up dragging on for years.

It was the revelation of bigamy that became the deciding factor in the court declaring the couple legally unmarried. According to Florida case law, bigamy is one of the most compelling grounds for annulment; it automatically means that the marriage is void. Florida law distinguishes between a void marriage (one that, legally, never existed) and a voidable marriage (one that is no longer legally valid). In some ways, an annulled marriage is like a divorce, but in some ways, it is different. For the Graysons, it meant that the court did not award alimony to Lolita. If their marriage had been valid, she might have been eligible for permanent alimony, as courts sometimes award permanent alimony in divorces that follow very long marriages. This is notable because the couple had fought bitterly over the division of their property during the divorce proceedings. At the time of the annulment, four of the couple’s five children were still minors.  Therefore, the parents were still financially responsible for them, as any parents, married, previously married, or never married, would be under Florida law.

Contact Alan Burton About Division of Property

Void marriages are an extreme case, but there is great variation when it comes to how Florida courts divide a couple’s property. Contact Alan R. Burton in Boca Raton, Florida about the division of property between you and your ex-spouse.

What is Annulment of Marriage?

The secular and religious definitions of marriage annulment are similar in their essence.  According to Florida law, an annulment is when a court declares a couple unmarried on the grounds that their marriage is not valid. It is different from a dissolution of marriage (divorce).  In a divorce, the marriage was real, but a judge legally ends the marriage at the request of one or both parties. The law considers the marriage to have begun on the day of the couple’s wedding and to have ended on the day the court issued the divorce decree. Courts make decisions about spousal support based on these dates. For example, courts rarely award permanent alimony in cases in which the couple was married for less than 17 years.

By contrast, in an annulment of marriage, the court declares that the couple was never actually married because their marriage was never valid in the first place or has become invalid. In practice, if the couple has children together, the husband maintains his status as the children’s legal father and does not need to take any further action to establish paternity.

Void and Voidable Marriages

Florida’s rules about annulment come from case law (precedents set in previous legal decisions) and not from Florida’s Constitution or statutes. They recognize a difference between void and voidable marriage. A marriage is void if there was a circumstance that, if the court had known about it at the time of the marriage, then it never would have legally recognized the marriage. In Florida, marriages are void if the spouses are close blood relatives or if one spouse was legally married to someone else at the time he or she married the spouse seeking the annulment. Florida courts have considered marriages voidable for a number of reasons, including the following:

• Duress – Someone forced or pressured one or both spouses into the marriage.
• Temporary inability to consent – One spouse was too ill or intoxicated to understand his or her actions at the time of entering into the marriage.
• Lack of parental consent – A spouse younger than 18 years old entered the marriage without the consent of a parent or legal guardian.

Contact Alan Burton About Marriage Annulment Cases

Alan Burton works exclusively with family law cases, including those that involve annulment of marriage. Contact Alan R. Burton in Boca Raton, Florida if a court has declared your marriage void or voidable, or if you think that it should.