Hi, I’m new to this forum and website. I came searching for an answer to the same question you have–how long does an annulment take in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. I have read all the posts on this topic, and will share with you all the information I have received during my annulment process so far. I had to look back on my calendar, but found that the date that I turned in my questionaire and paperwork with my list of witnesses was on December 19, 2008. I turned these in to my parish priest, actually monsignor, so I’m not sure when he acually sent them to the tribunal office. I think since it was so close to Christmas, he may have waited until after the holiday to submit them. I received a letter from the tribunal dated January 13, 2009 stating my petition has received an initial review and has been accepted for further investigation. It also lists my judge, defender of the bond and advocate. It says the next stage in the process involves the court’s attempt to determine the most appropriate canonical grounds in this case and the session date for this is set for Feb. 10, 2009. It says they will also attempt to contact my former spose seeking some initial testimony. Although I didn’t know what it meant until I read in this forum, my case number is listed as 0029. The next letter I received is dated Feb 9, 2009 from my advocate which just outlines the annulment process and says my petition will soon be assigned to a judicial team for its initial review, so I’m not quite sure if this is the meeting mentioned in the previous letter. It states it may be a number of months before I hear from the judge assigned to my petition, and if I haven’t heard anything by six months to call the office. For some reason my advocate sent me the exact same letter on March 23, 2009. I had my mother listed as a witness, and I live with her. She got a witness questionaire in the mail, but I don’t remember the date. She was quite upset because it asked for alot of details, and since she had a stroke several years ago, alot of her memory is gone. I told her to just write that she didn’t feel she could answer the questions and give it to monsignor and tell him the same. The judge in my case ended up calling her to answer questions instead. I had three of my sisters also listed as witnesses. The judge in my case called me, but I was in the shower and my mother talked to him again. It was on a Saturday, but again I don’t remember the date. My mother said he wanted me to call him back, and I did but he didn’t answer and never called me back. I called the Monday after and left a message, but he never called back. The next time I was contacted was again a message left on my cell phone dated May 4, 2009, from a Sister Rosa. She said she wanted to ask me questions about my respondent. I called her back but she wasn’t in and I left a message. She also never called me back again, even though I called her and left another message. On July 14, 2009 I received a letter stating the instruction phase of the marriage nullity proceeding has been concluded and I had the right to inspect certain Acts in the case and must do so before July 28, 2009. I wasn’t sure what this meant, so I called the number, again Sister Rosa, and I can’t remember if she answered or eventually called back. She said I had the right to review all the evidence given by witnesses. I asked when I could do this, and it seems she sounded a little upset that I wanted to. She said I couldn’t do anything about what was written, unless it was something major. I wanted to see if my ex husband said anything (I didn’t know if he replied to the questionaire), so I made an appointment, and went to the Tribunal office. Sister Rosa still seemed a little perturbed that I wanted to review everything. She took me to her office, and I had to swear an oath that I would never reveal what I read in the witness statements. Her office is just full of folders and paperwork. She sat at her desk working the whole time. She again told me I couldn’t do anything about the testimony given, but if there was something horrilby wrong and not true to just note it in the margin. I didn’t think my ex husband would reply, but he actually did. Although he’s not Catholic, he wasn’t happy I wanted to get an annulment. I don’t want to go into details, but he can be a real jerk. I feel kind of guilty now, it’s almost like reading someone’s diary I guess. They also had transcipts of the phone conversations with witnesses. I don’t know what role Sister Rosa plays in my case, but she was saying that my respondent didn’t reply, but I told her he did, his form was in with the other witness statements. So that is the last I have heard. It’s almost been a year since I turned in my paperwork, so it got me wondering, which is why I started looking for the answer of how long my annulment might take. When I gave my paperwork to monsignor, he told me that the Los Angeles diocese is actually not that bad about processing the annulments. The delay comes when they have to give the case to the appeals diocese. He said the diocese in Orange County hears all appeals, and they are the ones who are very backlogged and cause the case to be dragged out. He also told me it’s best just to let the Tribunal do their work, that they have alot of cases and calling them just takes away from their time they have to process these cases. He said if I really need to know for some reason, to ask him, and he would try to find out. I decided early on it will happen when it happens. God’s will, not mine, so I haven’t tried to find out anything. I have a boyfriend, and he wants to get married, but we’re just waiting until we find out. God bless all of you. I hope this helps answer some questions, and I’ll keep you posted when anything else happens.
I think it’s a good idea about writing down the questions. I did that another time, but he didn’t have the questions with him when she called him back! lol