Courts

High Court upholds US court’s annulment of Irish marriage entered into during Covid

Annulment granted on grounds that ‘the parties felt under pressure to proceed with the wedding’ given the cancellations due to pandemic restrictions

The husband sought a declaration from the High Court that the US annulment was entitled to recognition here. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA
The husband sought a declaration from the High Court that the US annulment was entitled to recognition here. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA
Fri Nov 29 2024 - 16:08

The High Court has upheld a foreign court’s decision to annul a couple’s Irish marriage because they had not entered into it with the requisite mental capacity due to the stress of the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.

The couple got engaged in January 2020, just before the pandemic, and hoped to get married in the US the following September.

He was 25, an Irish citizen brought up here although also holding US citizenship which he renounced on turning 18. She was 22, American-born and reared, and had attended university in the US just before they got engaged.

He was living in the same US state where she studied and, on their engagement, they planned to marry there in September 2020.

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The pandemic brought their plans forward to May but after problems arose with arranging the marriage in the US they decided to do it in Ireland.

It was August before they married here having had to cancel three venues due to Covid. Their wedding was in a church.

They took out a lease on accommodation in September 2020 in a US State.

By December, they had separated as there had been a “complete breakdown” in the marriage, Mr Justice John Jordan said when he upheld the annulment granted in March 2021 in the US State where they had rented accommodation.

The judge said the husband decided in the first week of December 2020 he did not want to be part of the relationship due to the difficulties that emerged between them.

She had packed up her belongings in December in their rented US accommodation and she returned to the adjoining State where she had grown up and where her mother still lived.

The annulment was granted on grounds that “the parties felt under pressure to proceed with the wedding” given the cancellations and replanning due to Covid restrictions.

The US court that granted the annulment stated: “Both parties believe that they were caught up in the excitement of travelling to Ireland and getting married and had not given the decision clear and thoughtful consideration so that they had the mental capacity to enter into a valid and binding marriage.”

In July 2021 he sought a declaration from the High Court that the US annulment was entitled to recognition here.

She did not participate in the Irish proceedings. The Attorney General (AG) came into the case as a notice party because of the issues of systemic importance which arose in these proceedings.

Mr Justice Jordan agreed with the AG that the rules for the recognition of a decree of nullity granted outside the State should mirror and reflect the rules for the recognition of decrees of divorce granted outside the State.

The central rule of recognition was then that a decree of nullity was entitled to recognition if either party was domiciled in the country where the decree was granted at the time the proceedings were started, he said.

The court accepted the AG’s view that the domicile of parties when making the application should be determined by Irish law.

The judge said that in terms of her chosen domicile it was evident that a significant issue between the couple, and which contributed to the fracture in the relationship, was “the wife’s determination to stay in [the US] as opposed to travelling internationally with her husband in the course of his professional career”.

The judge was satisfied that, while the AG was correct to urge careful consideration and caution in terms of the application, the man had satisfied all of the requisite proofs.

In particular, he had satisfied the court that the woman had a domicile of choice in the US in December of 2020 when the annulment proceedings were commenced.

He was entitled to the declaration sought, the judge added.