Annulled After Death?

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HagiaSophia

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According to a report in The Independent (UK) Roman Catholic Italy is witnessing a boom in demand for posthumous marriage annulments with many unions hitting the rocks as soon as one of the partners is lowered into the ground.

The report, which is sourced to the Italian newspaper La Stampa says the surge in annulments, which is proving lucrative for ecclesiastical lawyers at the Holy Rota court in Rome, is largely down to applications by widowers who want to annul their first marriage to a dead wife so that they can favour children of a second marriage in their wills. Conversely, children of a first marriage who want to annul their dead father’s second marriage so as not to lose an inheritance are also flooding the court.

“The Holy Rota is bursting with cases because of a new tendency by those who believe they have the right to ‘posthumous’ annulments,” La Stampa said.

cathnews.com/news/501/111.php
 
This makes no sense whatever. How could any tribunal issue a declaration of nullity with respect to a marriage which has already been terminated by death?
 
Here is the applicable canon law (italics added):
Can. 1675 §1 A marriage which was not challenged while both parties were alive, cannot be challenged after the death of either or both, unless the question of validity is a necessary preliminary to the resolution of another controversy in either the canonical or the civil forum.
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I thought children of a marriage that was annulled were not declared illegitimate? Or are they under Italian law? That’s the only reason I could see for trying to do this.
 
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Almeria:
I thought children of a marriage that was annulled were not declared illegitimate? Or are they under Italian law? That’s the only reason I could see for trying to do this.
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No chid is labelled as illegitimate due to an annulment which simply says tht a state of sacramental marriage was not present in the union. I suspect however, that it may have to do with Italian inheritance laws in some ways.
 
Hmm, those Italians must either have way too much time on their hands or way too complicated inheritance laws.
 
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Almeria:
I thought children of a marriage that was annulled were not declared illegitimate? Or are they under Italian law? That’s the only reason I could see for trying to do this.
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Illegitmatcy is entirely a civil matter. The Church does not address legitmacy or use such terms.

Italian civil law might address inheritance as being contingent on the child being the result of a Sacramental Catholic union. But it is entirely a civil matter.
 
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Brendan:
Illegitmatcy is entirely a civil matter. The Church does not address legitmacy or use such terms.

Italian civil law might address inheritance as being contingent on the child being the result of a Sacramental Catholic union. But it is entirely a civil matter.
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That’s what I meant by “Italian law”–their civil law. I just can’t see how the status of an annulment would make a difference on the Church’s view of the children and their inheritance. So I’d think it would have to be something within their civil law that is making getting the annulment seem attractive.

I found an article with what I believe is the loophole they are trying to use:
nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10007518
MPs from Italy’s former communist Democratic Party meanwhile are trying to close a loophole in Italian law under which husbands who obtain an annulment in a church court are not obliged to pay alimony to their former wives.
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MPs from Italy’s former communist Democratic Party meanwhile are trying to close a loophole in Italian law under which husbands who obtain an annulment in a church court are not obliged to pay alimony to their former wives.
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Ahh, so it’s about money! Naturally.
 
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