Annulment and signature

[MarcoPolo]

I spoke last night to a friend of mine who was married very briefly to a non-Catholic Christian in her early 20s for less than a year. She said that her parish would not give her the annulment until the ex signed something. Does this sound normal? I thought it sounded odd. I mean if there was no marriage to begin with, which I doubt there was, why should the signature of someone, whom she no longer sees, suddenly make the annulment valid?

 

[pigtown]

Sometimes the annulment is a big mystery. I have a friend who was married by a justice of the peace. Her husband was still married to his first wife, without benefit of a divorce. He finally did divorce his first wife but he and my friend never got legally married. When they split my friend’s priest told her that she had to get an annulment. How can you get an annulment of a marriage that was not legal in the first place?

 

[dulcissima]

Sometimes the annulment is a big mystery. I have a friend who was married by a justice of the peace. Her husband was still married to his first wife, without benefit of a divorce. He finally did divorce his first wife but he and my friend never got legally married. When they split my friend’s priest told her that she had to get an annulment. How can you get an annulment of a marriage that was not legal in the first place?

It isn’t an annulment, it’s a declaration of nullity, a formal finding that that marriage was not actually a marriage. In her case it would be fairly straight forward and easy.

 

[dulcissima]

I spoke last night to a friend of mine who was married very briefly to a non-Catholic Christian in her early 20s for less than a year. She said that her parish would not give her the annulment until the ex signed something. Does this sound normal? I thought it sounded odd. I mean if there was no marriage to begin with, which I doubt there was, why should the signature of someone, whom she no longer sees, suddenly make the annulment valid?

It sounds like you don’t have the whole story. Usually what the Tribunal will do is contact the former spouse to give them the opportunity to participate in the process, so that both sides can be heard. His participation would not be necessary, but contacting him and giving him the opportunity to participate would be necessary.

You doubt that the marriage was valid, but one can’t know that with certainty unless it has been investigated by The Tribunal.

 

[Ramalama]

My annulment was just approved. I had co-operative ex which really helped. During the process, the guy running the case called and said they were going to send a notice to my ex. If she didn’t sign it, they would send her another one in a month. She would receive three such notices. If she didn’t return any of them they would assume she wasn’t interested in participating and would move on without her.

All in all, I found the process to be quite fair, but very time consuming.

 

[puzzleannie]

I spoke last night to a friend of mine who was married very briefly to a non-Catholic Christian in her early 20s for less than a year. She said that her parish would not give her the annulment until the ex signed something. Does this sound normal? I thought it sounded odd. I mean if there was no marriage to begin with, which I doubt there was, why should the signature of someone, whom she no longer sees, suddenly make the annulment valid?

I doubt very much if this person is reporting accurately information she received from the Catholic pastor who is overseeing and advising her on the annulment process. There are way too many details missing. No. 1 a Catholic Parish does not “grant an annulment”. The canon law tribunal of the diocese investigates the facts that pertained at the time of marriage, and only does so when one of the spouses, suspecting the marriage is invalid, asks for this investigation and supplies all the relevant information.

The petitioner is never required to “get signatures”. What they are required to do is provide names and contact information, to the best of their ability, of their ex and of witnesses who can testify as to the facts about the marriage. The ex is sent a copy of the petition so he or she has the chance, as is their right, to tell their side of the story and supply missing facts. If they do not respond, that is not “held against” the petioner, the investigation will proceed and uncover what facts it is able. If in the judgement of the tribunal the marriage was indeed invalid, a decree of nullity will be issued.

 

[chevalier]

I spoke last night to a friend of mine who was married very briefly to a non-Catholic Christian in her early 20s for less than a year. She said that her parish would not give her the annulment until the ex signed something. Does this sound normal? I thought it sounded odd. I mean if there was no marriage to begin with, which I doubt there was, why should the signature of someone, whom she no longer sees, suddenly make the annulment valid?

As Puzzleannie said. And the proceedings are able to be conducted without the participation of the party that doesn’t want to cooperate.