“Drunk Wedding, Still Married: Court Says Alcohol Isn’t Enough to Undo ‘I Do’”

People sometimes assume that an annulment is simply a faster or easier alternative to divorce. In reality, the opposite is true: In Ontario, annulments are uncommon, and courts approach them cautiously.

The reason lies in what an annulment actually does.

We’ve written about the general Canadian law on annulments before, in our Blogs titled Divorce vs. Annulment in Canada: What’s the Difference? and Can I Get An Annulment? 

But to quickly summarize the difference:

• A divorce ends a valid marriage.
• An annulment, by contrast, is a declaration that the marriage was never legally valid in the first place.

In Canada, annulment is a very different legal concept from divorce, and it’s one that is only available in narrow circumstances.  Its availability governed by a brief statute that effectively imports old English law into modern Canadian practice. As a result, the detailed rules about when an annulment can be granted have mainly been developed through court decisions over time, rather than spelled out in legislation.

The key principle is this:  An annulment is based on something that was wrong at the time of the marriage—not something that went wrong later.

Categories of Annulment

There are two main categories:

• Marriages that are void from the outset. These include situations where:
  • One spouse was already married to someone else
  • The parties were too closely related to each other
  • A proper ceremony did not take place
  • One party lacked the ability to consent to the marriage at all.
• Some marriages are “” These are treated as valid unless and until a court sets them aside. Common examples include scenarios involving
  • Fraud
  • Lack of capacity to consummate the marriage
  • A fundamental problem with consent to get married.

“We Were Drinking” Isn’t a Legal Defence

Ontario courts apply these principles and categories very strictly.

Recent case in point:  In Fahim v. Bhatti, 2025 ONSC 6178 (CanLII) the couple claimed they got impulsively got married in a private ceremony while drunk, after a night of “drinking games and celebratory toasts”.  This was at the urging of their equally-drunk friends.

Since the ceremony, they kept their lives and homes completely separate, and told the court they only realized they had gotten married when their marriage certificate was discovered among some paperwork at one of their parents’ home.

They sought an annulment on the basis that they were too intoxicated to consent, and had gotten carried away by the “emotional atmosphere” of the drunken gathering.

Perhaps surprisingly, the court refused.

After reviewing the law, it emphasized that being drunk is not enough; the legal threshold is much higher. A person must be so impaired that they cannot understand the nature of the marriage itself.

On the evidence, the court disbelieved the story about finding the marriage certificate, and found it more likely that the parties had simply made a spontaneous decision they now regretted – not that they lacked capacity to marry in the legal sense. It noted a lack of evidence around the level of their intoxication, and around the sequence of events leading to the proverbial trip to the altar.

(And despite refusing the annulment, the court reminded the couple that they remained free to apply for a divorce.)

That case highlights an important point: Regret is not a proper legal ground for annulment. Even a poorly-considered or impulsive marriage can still be considered legally valid.  Moreover, even if both parties agree that they want an annulment, that is not sufficient.  Courts must be satisfied that the legal test for an annulment is met. They will scrutinize the evidence carefully, particularly where the request could affect legal rights or obligations.

The Takeaway

If your marriage was legally valid but has broken down, divorce is almost always the appropriate route. If you believe something was fundamentally wrong from the very beginning – such as a lack of consent, incapacity, or a serious legal defect – an annulment may be possible, but it is certainly not guaranteed.

Because the law in this area is technical and fact-specific, it is important to obtain legal advice early. What may feel like a clear case for annulment does not always meet the legal threshold—and courts will not grant one lightly.  If you have questions about these kinds of scenarios, feel free to give our offices a call.