§580-21 Grounds for annulment. The family court, by a decree of nullity, may declare void the marriage contract for any of the following causes, existing at the time of the marriage:

(1) That the parties stood in relation to each other of ancestor and descendant of any degree whatsoever, brother and sister of the half as well as the whole blood, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, whether the relationship is the result of the issue of parents married or not married to each other;

(2) That the parties, or either of them, had not attained the legal age of marriage;

(3) That the husband had an undivorced wife living, or the wife had an undivorced husband living;

(4) That one of the parties lacked the mental capacity to consent to the marriage;

(5) That consent to the marriage of the party applying for annulment was obtained by force, duress, or fraud, and there has been no subsequent cohabitation; and

(6) That one of the parties was a sufferer of or afflicted with any loathsome disease and the fact was concealed from, and unknown to, the party applying for annulment. [CC 1859, §1313; am imp L 1866, p 3; rep L 1870, c 10; ree L 1876, c 48; am imp L 1870, c 24, §1; rep L 1872, c 23, §2; am imp L 1872, c 23, §1; am L 1903, c 22, §1; RL 1925, §2955; RL 1935, §4450; am L 1935, c 184, §1; RL 1945, §12201; am L 1949, c 53, §29; RL 1955, §324-1; am L 1957, c 72, §1; am imp L 1965, c 232, §1; HRS §580-21; am L 1980, c 43, §1; am L 1984, c 119, §2; am L 1997, c 52, §8]

Attorney General Opinions

Uncle and niece by adoption not disqualified to intermarry. Att. Gen. Op. 62-49.

Case Notes

Marriage voidable, not void, of girl under fourteen. 6 H. 289 (1881).

Requires proper allegation. 7 H. 219 (1888).

Proper parties. 7 H. 278 (1888).

Nonassent of a party to marriage is not a statutory ground for annulment. 8 H. 77 (1890).

Insufficiency of evidence on ground of nonage. 8 H. 360 (1892).

Held that failure to procure license, ground for annulment. 25 H. 397 (1920).

Enumeration of grounds does not deprive court of jurisdiction to annul a marriage on some other ground. 26 H. 89 (1921); 29 H. 770, 795 (1927).

Presumption that marriage was valid; burden on libellant to prove incompetency. 29 H. 716 (1927).

Trial court erred in deciding that wife was entitled to prevail on her divorce claim and second husband was not entitled to prevail on his annulment claim where certified copy of judgment of divorce presented undisputed evidence that when wife married second husband, wife had prior lawful living husband and thus did not satisfy the requirement of §572-1(3). 108 H. 459 (App.), 121 P.3d 924 (2005).

Sections 572-1, 580-1, and this section must be read together; only the family court can declare void a marriage obtained by force, duress, or fraud, and it cannot do so where there has been subsequent cohabitation. 112 H. 131 (App.), 144 P.3d 579 (2006).