3.10.2 Unlawful Marriages

A marriage contracted in the absence of a marriage ceremony or in the presence of an impediment (e.g., a previous undissolved marriage or consanguinity) is absolutely null.1  Such a marriage has no civil legal effects and need not be declared null by a court.2  Nevertheless, any interested person may bring an action for a judicial declaration of nullity.3  A petition for divorce cannot substitute for an action seeking a declaration of nullity.

Marriages that are absolutely null may still give rise to certain civil effects as to parties who entered into the marriage in good faith.4  Such putative marriages cannot be dissolved by a petition for divorce; dissolution must be obtained by a petition for a declaration of nullity of the marriage. In an action for a declaration of nullity of a putative marriage, the petitioner can be awarded the incidental relief available in a proceeding for divorce.5

• 1La. C.C. art. 94.
• 2See id.
• 3Id.
• 4La. C.C. art. 96.
• 5La. C.C. arts. 151–152.