Marriages can be ended by one or both parties filing for divorce or by one or both filing annulment documents in their state court system. Though both approaches will legally end a marriage, only one permanently erases it from the records. This is only done through annulment which basically establishes that a marriage was void at the moment in which it occurred. Filing annulment papers involves having a valid and legally recognized cause for the request, and also having the ability to prove that the claim is valid as well. For example, if a person begins the annulment process because they found out that their spouse was secretly married until only a short period before their wedding, they must provide evidence of this first marriage and the date in which it was legally dissolved.