Marriage under false pretenses for citizenship

[acem]

Jurisdiction

Pennsylvania

If a man has been married to a women for eight years believing that she has had no spouse or children and her parents are dead and that she is the only child. Then after they have a child and she receives her citizenship finds out her entire life is a lie. The woman not only has a family (father, mother, 1 brother and 5 sisters), but children (1 daughter in MD, 1 in England), and a husband in Ethiopia that he knew nothing about. On top of that her name and date of birth and only god knows what else is false. Is it possible to annul the marriage under "False Pretenses" or what steps would he have to take to simply get a divorce?

 

[army judge]

If a man has been married to a women for eight years believing that she has had no spouse or children and her parents are dead and that she is the only child. Then after they have a child and she receives her citizenship finds out her entire life is a lie. The woman not only has a family (father, mother, 1 brother and 5 sisters), but children (1 daughter in MD, 1 in England), and a husband in Ethiopia that he knew nothing about. On top of that her name and date of birth and only god knows what else is false. Is it possible to annul the marriage under "False Pretenses" or what steps would he have to take to simply get a divorce?

You have two options.
You can contact your county district attorney, and report her alleged bigamy.
The state will often assist victims in your position with getting out of the marriage.

Another option is to file for a divorce.
Divorces are easy to obtain these days, and can often be done pro se by the person initiating the divorce, Google "DIY divorce PA, your county"

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Many states have annulment as an option for a marriage under false pretenses. Pennsylvania appears to provide an annulment of marriage under its state statutes:

Pennsylvania General Assembly (Legal Statutes) Chapter 33, Dissolution of Marital Status

§ 3304. Grounds for annulment of void marriages.
(a) General rule.--Where there has been no confirmation by cohabitation following the removal of an impediment, the supposed or alleged marriage of a person shall be deemed void in the following cases:
(1) Where either party at the time of such marriage had an existing spouse and the former marriage had not been annulled nor had there been a divorce except where that party had obtained a decree of presumed death of the former spouse.
(2) Where the parties to such marriage are related within the degrees of consanguinity prohibited by section 1304(e) (relating to restrictions on issuance of license).
(3) Where either party to such marriage was incapable of consenting by reason of insanity or serious mental disorder or otherwise lacked capacity to consent or did not intend to consent to the marriage.
(4) Where either party to a purported common-law marriage was under 18 years of age.