Can a spouse’s mental illness be grounds for annulling the marriage?
In the Polish legal system, not everyone is eligible to contract a marriage. Art. 10–16 of the Family and Guardianship Code enumerate situations when entering into a marriage is not possible due to specific “characteristics” of the persons wishing to enter into a marriage. One of the grounds for invalidating a marriage is mental illness present in a spouse at the time of entering into the marriage, if it threatens the marriage or the health of any future children (Art. 12 §1).
In such situation, annulment of the marriage may be requested by either spouse (including the one suffering from mental illness). Significantly, a marriage cannot be annulled due to mental illness of one of the spouses after the illness has ceased (Art. 12 §3 of the Family and Guardianship Code).
In annulment cases, with respect to the spouses, their children and their property relations, the divorce provisions apply as relevant (Art. 21).
Annulment of marriage with a finding of bad faith
When declaring a marriage invalid, the court will also decide whether the marriage was entered into in bad faith, and if so, which spouse acted in bad faith. A spouse is considered to be in bad faith if, at the time of entering into a marriage, he or she was aware of circumstances constituting grounds for annulment (Art. 20). Therefore, if one spouse knew that he or she was suffering from a mental illness, but concealed it from the other spouse, this opens the way to annulment of the marriage with a finding of bad faith.
For example, in the judgment of 16 December 2019 (case no. I ACa 1337/18), the Kraków Court of Appeal upheld the annulment of a marriage based on the fault of the wife, who had concealed from her husband that she suffered from schizophrenia at time of the marriage. The wife appealed, alleging among other things that at the time of entering into the marriage she was not displaying any symptoms, her illness was in remission, and it did not threaten the welfare of the marriage or the couple’s future children. The appeal was denied. The court held that the remission of the illness at the time of entering into the marriage did not exempt the respondent from the requirement to obtain the guardianship court’s consent for her to marry, nor did it relieve her of the duty to honestly inform her future spouse of her illness (which she had suffered from for several years before she met the petitioner, receiving treatment from psychiatrists and regularly taking medication for schizophrenia). As the court pointed out, the wife’s reference to “remission” itself demonstrated that she was aware that she suffered from a mental illness and knowingly concealed this from her husband.
The ruling on bad faith has consequences for the property relations between the spouses. These consequences are described in the article “Can a spouse’s mental illness be grounds for divorce?” (the consequences are the same for a divorce with a finding of fault, and for an annulment with a ruling that one of the spouses was in bad faith).
Consequences of an annulment
The most important effects of the annulment of a marriage are:
- The statutory or contractual joint property regime between the spouses ceases.
- At the request of at least one spouse, in a judgment annulling a marriage the court may also divide the joint property of the spouses (Art 58 §3 of the Family and Guardianship Code).
- The spouses will not be each other’s statutory heirs, nor can they claim a forced share of the other’s estate.
- Each spouse returns to his or her surname and marital status from before the marriage.
- If the spouses shared a home, the court will also rule on the use of the home by each of them for the duration of their joint residence.
Petition for both an annulment and a divorce
It may happen that the factual circumstances of a marriage will entitle one spouse to file both a petition for annulment and a petition for divorce. These are two independent paths leading to the end of a marriage, but it is also possible to initiate both proceedings simultaneously.
In the judgment of 25 November 1965 (case no. II CR 215/65), the Supreme Court of Poland addressed a case where the husband suffered from a mental illness (manifested by a morbid jealousy of his wife, leading to attempts to control every aspect of his wife’s life, as well as fantasising about poisoning his wife). The wife could have filed a petition for divorce, but decided to seek annulment of the marriage. The court held that the choice of legal path depended solely on the wife in that case. Thus if a petition for annulment is filed, the court cannot dismiss it on the grounds that for whatever reason it would be more expedient to dissolve the marriage by divorce.
Conclusion
In some situations, mental illness can lead to either a divorce or an annulment of the marriage. When wishing to end a marriage (by divorce or annulment), it is important to be aware of the momentous legal consequences, as well as the costs and duration of each procedure.
A petitioner who decides to simultaneously file two types of actions (for divorce and for annulment) should ensure that the evidence and claims made in both proceedings are consistent with each other.
Aleksandra Cygan, adwokat, Dispute Resolution & Arbitration practice, Wardyński & Partners
