[NYer]

Is an annulement like a hafqa’at kiddushin? (Essentially a forced get because there was something not valid in the marriage.)

Yes. Annulments are granted, for example, when, if after marriage, one of the pair changes its mind about having children ... or ... is physically abusive towards the other. These are just a few examples.

[Jewbacca]

Thank you. Learn something every day on FR.

[utahagen]

The examples you cite are not grounds for annulment. An annulment means the marriage was invalid at the outset, not that something went wrong after the wedding. If a person tesitifes in an annulment proceeding that he or she NEVER intended to have children (and perhaps lied about it before the wedding), this would be grounds for an annulment. However, if someone said, “I fully intended to have children, but changed my mind a year after the wedding”, that would not by a valid ground for an annulment. (Of course, most such people would simply lie and claim to never have wanted children.)

Also, abuse is not grounds for an annulment; it’s merely justification for separating from the abusive spouse. Now, abuse may be cited as evidence that the abuser lacked the psychological maturity to marry in the first place, but abuse alone would not be ground for annulment.

An annulment means that something at the outset of the marriage made the marriage invalid. For example, a man who knew he was homosexual when he dated and married a woman would not be someone who could be validly married. However, a heterosexual man who married his wife with the intention of being faithful to her, but after the wedding, wanted to have an open marriage, should not be granted an annulment.

OF course, AS I write above, some people fudge and lie when trying to get an annulment, but objectively, a change of heart about having kids or abuse themselves would not be grounds for annulment.

[Hieronymus]

The cause of the annulment needs to exist at the time of the putative marriage—something that springs up out of nowhere after the wedding day (e.g. a change of mind about kids) doesn’t suffice.