Annulment - How is this charitable?

[LaLucia]

Sydney, If you are super worried about your ex-spouse reading what you and your witnesses have to say about him then you should wait until you are really ready to apply for an Annulment.
Walking on egg shells so you don’t hurt your ex-spouse feelings will not get you your annulment. You will be wasting your time and money. It presently costs approx. $700.
to apply for your annulment. The process takes many months of grief and hoping you get your annulment.
You don’t need to state you wished your husband would die… you don’t need to write it down on paper. You can just say you wished your marriage had never happened since you were not in love.

You must look back at the reasons why you chose to get married in the first place.
You could have married someone else and still be unhappy with the marriage.
Did you want to escape from your parents? Did you need financial help? Were you pushed into the marriage? So there are many questions you need to ask yourself.
Did he convince you because he made lots of promises to you? Did you feel sorry for him because he had depression problems and thought you could fix him?

You must look deep into the past. It will take time to start remembering those days.
The Tribunal really looks at the past more than the present situations.

I would wait if I were you until you are ready and are sure you want your annulment.

 

[cecilia97]

You will be wasting your time and money. It presently costs approx. $700.

No one pays “for” an annulment, and there is no cost to “get” one. In my diocese, you pay an administrative fee to have your case processed…the same fee whether your nullity petition is affirmed or denied. One may pay over time or pay less according to ability, and the total fee is FAR less than $700 here and several other dioceses I am familiar with.

And my diocese does turn down petitions, even from people who have paid the whole processing fee.

I will add that the documents sent out with petition forms here also state that the processing fee does not fully cover the diocese’s cost of the case. The diocese isn’t making any money off these cases.

 

[LaLucia]

Cecillia, You are so right when you say that no one pays for an annulment. That is so true. But, we all do have to pay administrative fees to have our cases processed whether we are approved or not for an annulment.

I do understand that it is not a given that our annulments will be approved.
I did pay $700. dollars to process my case in the Los Angeles Tribunal. My parish would have payed the fee if I was destitute. But I do have some retirement money to pay the fees. In Los Angeles… the Tribunal may ask the petitioner to go see one of their chosen counselors/therapist and have to be willing to pay $75. per hour. “WHEW”… Lucky for me I wasn’t asked to do that.

Cecillia, you are lucky you live in Houston.

I do wonder what the fees are in other states and countries? I am aware that all parishes are willing to help out financially if a person is not able to pay the fees. LaLucia

 

[cecilia97]

Cecillia, You are so right when you say that no one pays for an annulment. That is so true. But, we all do have to pay administrative fees to have our cases processed whether we are approved or not for an annulment.

I do understand that it is not a given that our annulments will be approved.
I did pay $700. dollars to process my case in the Los Angeles Tribunal. My parish would have payed the fee if I was destitute. But I do have some retirement money to pay the fees. In Los Angeles… the Tribunal may ask the petitioner to go see one of their chosen counselors/therapist and have to be willing to pay $75. per hour. “WHEW”… Lucky for me I wasn’t asked to do that.

Cecillia, you are lucky you live in Houston.

I do wonder what the fees are in other states and countries? I am aware that all parishes are willing to help out financially if a person is not able to pay the fees. LaLucia

My processing fee was $450, I believe. $50 to start the process and I paid the rest over the next year in installments. I could have waived the entire fee if I had wanted to show need. If I had done that, the diocese would pick up the cost, not my individual parish…which is a blessing because my parish is orthodox but rather poor.

If psychological assessment is suggested by our Tribunal, one may go to Catholic Charities which offers therapy and assessment services on a sliding scale according to need.

The processing fee in my parents’ diocese of Victoria is much less than the $450 I paid. (Much smaller diocese.)

I do, indeed, feel blessed to be in Houston. Blessed more than anyone else could know.