• For example, a marriage is voidable if either party is underage or otherwise legally incompetent, or if one party used fraud, duress, or force to induce the other party to enter the marriage. The legal imperfection in such a marriage can be inquired into only during the lives of both spouses, in a proceeding to obtain a judgment declaring it void. A voidable marriage can be ratified once the impediment to a legal marriage has been removed. [Cases: Marriage 53–54. C.J.S. Marriage §§ 43–45.]
voidable marriage
A marriage that is initially invalid but that remains in effect unless terminated by court order.